Brides of the Kindred Volume One

by Evangeline Anderson

  “How many guards around him?” Baird asked.

  “Probably four if it’s like last time,” Lock answered for him. “His main guards are huge but slow—except when the AllFather is controlling them.”

  “They’re soulless,” Deep added. “He can work them like puppets when he wants to so beware of them.”

  “It is my father’s personal power—his ability to get into your mind and control you—that we need to be most concerned with,” Xairn said. “If the rest of you will help me clear a path, I’ll try to engage him.”

  “We can’t just let you fight him by yourself,” Deep objected.

  Xairn shook his head. “You have to. You see, I have some of the same powers.” He took a deep breath. “I can withstand him as the rest of you cannot. At least, I hope I can.”

  “Then we’ll do all we can to see that you have a clear shot at the AllFather,” Sylvan said decisively. “But if we see you struggling and there’s anything we can do, we can’t promise to hold back.”

  “True.” Deep nodded. “Kat cares deeply for Lauren—she’d never forgive me if I didn’t do everything I could to be sure the mate of her friend returns safely.”

  “That goes double for us,” Baird growled. “Olivia would have my hide if I let the mate of her kin die.”

  Xairn felt a surge of gratitude for the strong males beside him, pledging their help and support. Here was the same feeling he’d experienced with Lauren, but in a different form. Family. Brothers. Maybe after this is over I can really become one of them. It was a hope he couldn’t help cherishing. After his lonely, cold existence on the Fathership, the idea of having people to care about, who also cared about him, was certainly tempting. But in order to get to that point, he had to confront his father first.

  “I thank you,” he said again, bowing formally. “And if any of you has a weapon I could borrow, I would be grateful for that as well. Mine is completely out of charge.”

  “Will this do?” Sylvan produced a black piece of metal that was curved on one end. “It’s a cryo-knife,” he explained as Xairn examined it. “Not as much range as a projectile weapon, obviously, but it’s good for close work. Plunge it to the hilt in your enemy’s chest and you’ll flash-freeze his heart and all his internal organs in a tenth of a second.”

  “Intriguing—I’ve never seen a weapon like it before,” Xairn murmured. He thumbed the switch at the bottom and a thin, ice blue blade made of pure energy hummed out of the curved end. “Where did you get it?”

  “It’s an ancient weapon developed on my home world,” Sylvan said. “We know a lot about cold on Tranq Prime. This particular cryo-knife was carried by my father until he passed it on to me.”

  “Then I am indeed honored to carry it into battle.” Xairn nodded gravely and turned the knife off again. “If you’re all ready, I will to pilot a course for the Fathership.”

  “Lead on.” Baird grinned and pounded him on the shoulder. “I’ve been spoiling for a fight for months now. I know it makes our females nervous, but a male needs to go to battle sometimes. It’s in our blood.”

  “I agree.” Sylvan smiled and put an arm around Baird’s shoulders. “Let’s go knock some heads.”

  “Forget knocking heads.” Deep gave him a bloodthirsty grin. “Let’s kill the bastards.”

  His twin brother nodded. “We will spill their blood like water.”

  “We’re in agreement then,” Xairn said. “Let’s go!”

  The approach to the Fathership didn’t take long and, as Xairn had expected, the docking bay doors slid wide with no trouble at all. His father was welcoming him home—like a spider welcoming a nervous fly. But I’m not nervous, he told himself as a cold cloak of certainty dropped over him. I’m here because I need to be—this confrontation has been a long time coming—maybe my entire life.

  He felt the males behind him tense as the small Kindred ship settled in the huge, empty space. Behind them, the docking bay door slid silently shut and then the entry level access irised open revealing…

  “Nothing,” Baird said, breaking the tense silence. “There’s nobody there.”

  “Where are all the Scourge warriors?” Deep wanted to know.

  Xairn opened the ship’s door. “There aren’t many of us left—not true Scourge anyway. We’ve been dying out for years now, as you know, and the only way we have to replenish our race is by growing soldiers in our flesh tanks. They’re like automen—poor copies of a twisted reality. They aren’t smart or fast but there are many of them.”

  “Not here, there aren’t,” Baird muttered as they all descended from the ship.

  “Or if they’re here, they’re hiding,” Sylvan put in.

  “Just wait,” Xairn said grimly. “Now that we’re inside the ship my father will know I’m not alone. We had all better be prepared to fight soon.”

  “Where will the AllFather be, do you think?” Lock asked.

  “In his throne room.” Xairn nodded down the long, empty corridor. “This way. Come—the closer we can get to him before we’re blocked by the vat grown soldiers he sends, the better.”

  “Let’s go,” Deep said. “If we no longer have the element of surprise on our side, at least we can have speed.” He started off at a dead run for the empty hallway and Xairn and the rest followed. They made good progress through the echoing corridors and he was just beginning to think they might actually get all the way to the throne room unmolested, when the first wave of vat grown soldiers appeared.

  “Watch out!” Deep kept charging even as he shouted. He had his blazer out and ready and was already carving his way through the silent ranks. The rest of them followed, doing the same, but for every vat grown they cut down, two more rose to take its place.

  The vat grown soldiers moved forward, a noiseless, grasping mob, arms outstretched, reaching for anything they could rend or destroy. Some were armed with knives, though none of them had a kusax, Xairn was relieved to see. Though silent and stupid they were big and strong and there were hundreds of them to their small force of five.

  “They’re like insects,” Sylvan shouted, batting away a Scourge soldier with a long knife and getting a nasty gouge on the arm for his trouble. “Cut one down and a dozen more pour in to take its place.”

  “Just keep going!” Baird roared. He was forcing his way through the corridor now, cutting swaths through the ranks of the vat grown with his blazer and leaving a trail of steaming body parts in his path. Xairn was right beside him, stabbing the ones that got too close with the cryo-knife. Again and again he plunged the glowing blue blade to the hilt in a vat grown’s chest. Again and again he watched as their bodies went stiff, a fine patina of frost covering the muscular torso before they fell to their knees, only to be trampled by their fellow soldiers.

  The Kindred were fighting valiantly beside him and Xairn could see the huge double doors which led to the throne room far ahead at the end of the hall. But the narrow metal corridor was getting clogged with bodies, both living and dead, and there were only so many each warrior could fight off at once. Xairn had several freely bleeding wounds on his arms, chest, and back and all around him he could see his new friends receiving similar injuries.

  “There are too many of them!” Lock’s voice was a hoarse shout of despair. “They’re everywhere.”

  With a feeling of desperation, Xairn realized he was right. Even if the entire lot of silent, deadly soldiers dropped dead that moment, their bodies would still block the way to his father. Why is he doing this? he thought, looking through the seething mass of bodies to the open doors of the throne room. He wants me here—he lured me back himself. This must be some kind of a test.

  “How right you are my ssson,” the voice of the AllFather hissed in his head. “The question is, can you passs it? Can you find your way to the foot of my throne before your darling mother isss no more?”

  Xairn cursed aloud in his harsh native tongue. His father’s mocking laughter echoed in his head in reply. Clearly the AllFather
was enjoying himself immensely. Suddenly Xairn’s eyes grew hot and he felt something swell within him—some power beyond the physical realm. He opened his mouth, uncertain of what might come out.

  “Listen to me, soldiers of the Scourge,” he shouted and his words rang with the power that was building up inside him. “Cease fighting and listen.”

  As one, the vat grown soldiers stopped fighting and stood motionless, their empty, soulless eyes fixed on Xairn.

  “This is not your fight,” he told them, still speaking with the resonance of power. “You are little more than animated corpses—bodies grown from ancient DNA harvested long ago. You are kept alive and breathing by the cruel will of the AllFather, forced to fight in order to serve his whims.”

  The ranks of the vat grown swayed toward him and Xairn could feel their silent agreement. They might not have much intelligence but they knew enough to know they led a miserable existence. They never knew kindness or comfort or love—only the endless grind of a daily existence devoid of anything but pain and monotony.

  “Go,” he told them, his voice ringing through the metal corridor. “Go from here and do not return.”

  “Nicely done, my ssson,” The AllFather laughed in his head. “And most humane—letting them live instead of killing them. It must be the human DNA in you, making you so weak. You could easily have had them turn on each other, you know.”

  “I know that but I choose not to. And I’m not done yet,” he sent back grimly. Looking at the silent hordes which were already beginning to disperse, he raised his voice once more. “Go to the flesh tanks, the vats where you were grown,” he told them. “Rip them apart! Make certain that no more like you can ever be made again!”

  He heard the hiss of anger in his head but the vat grown soldiers were already on the move and Xairn didn’t think that even the AllFather would be able to stop them all before the damage was done.

  Baird let out a breath as the soldiers shuffled away, leaving their dead and dying behind without a backward glance. “Very impressive, Xairn, but how do we know they won’t come back again?”

  “They won’t.” Xairn nodded in the direction of the throne room. “There might be more guarding my father, though. If so, leave them to me.”

  Deep shook his head as they began to advance again, stepping over the fallen bodies. “How in the seven hells did you do that, anyway?”

  “I don’t know.” Xairn shook his head. “It is a power that has been growing inside me. Being with Lauren seems to have…unleashed it somehow.”

  Sylvan smiled. “Then she must be an amazing female, Brother.”

  “She is,” Xairn said seriously. “As soon as I’m done here, I’m going back to her.”

  “As we all will return victorious to our females,” Baird grinned. “Come, brothers, the true fight awaits.”

  They charged forward into the throne room but as they passed the threshold of the immense double doors, they were immediately enveloped in a cloud of dread. Xairn had lived with it so long that it barely affected him but he could see the unease on the faces of his companions. The feeling of horror and panic was part of the AllFather’s personal aura—he carried it with him everywhere but it was strongest here, near his seat of power.

  “Steady,” he heard Baird tell the others. “You’re not going crazy—this is just the way it feels in here. Ignore it.”

  “You ignore my warningsss at your own peril, warrior.” The AllFather’s hissing voice filled the vast, echoing room.

  Xairn looked up the vast set of broad black steps leading to the green etched throne and saw his father standing at the top. The AllFather was flanked on both sides by his personal guard—eight foot tall monstrosities of the flesh tanks which stayed with him at all times. Xairn tried to look around them, to see if the cage containing his mother was sitting at the foot of the throne, as it had been in his dream. But there was no seeing anything past their bulk.

  “Where is she?” he said, looking up at the skeletal figure in the billowing black cloak. “What have you done to her?”

  “Nothing that ssshe did not richly dessserve for giving me sssuch a weak and cowardly ssson.” The AllFather’s eyes blazed crimson and Xairn felt his own eyes growing hot in return.

  “If you hurt her—”

  “Come and see for yourself.” The AllFather looked at his head guard. “Alpha, you and the othersss engage the Kindred in combat. Allow only my ssson to passs.”

  The huge guard seemed to be thinking hard. “But Master…that will leave you unprotected.”

  “I need no protection from my ssson,” the AllFather snapped. “The human DNA he carriesss makes him weak. He hasss neither the sssavagery nor the ssstrength to overcome me. Now go!”

  Nodding obediently, the Alpha guard and the other three vat grown soldiers that made up the AllFather’s personal bodyguard, came lumbering down the steps.

  “Get ready, brothers,” Baird said in a low voice. “They’re coming for us.”

  Concentrating, Xairn called the power to him again. “Stop!” he commanded the Alpha guard but the huge soldier kept coming. From the top of the steps, the AllFather laughed.

  “Nice try my ssson, but these are no ordinary guardsss. I had each of them grown ssspecially, as you know and I am ssshielding their mindsss with my own. You cannot use your fledgling powersss on them any more than you can ussse them on me.”

  “I wasn’t going to use my powers on you.” Xairn held up the cryo-knife, showing the deadly pale blue blade. “I’d rather use this.”

  For a moment the crimson eyes of the AllFather widened, then he threw back his skull-like head and laughed. “Do you really expect me to believe you’d try to kill me? I’m your father, Xairn.”

  “Yes, you’re my father.” As he spoke, Xairn began to climb the stairs. “Also my torturer, my jailer, and my most constant oppressor. You made my life a misery from the day of my birth.”

  “And yet you ssstill come running back the moment I call,” the AllFather taunted.

  “I came back for her—for my mother.” Xairn could hear the sounds of battle as the AllFather’s guards clashed with the Kindred warriors but he had eyes only for the foot of the throne. There stood the cage, just as it had in his dream. Also as it had been in his dream, the cage was covered by a black cloth. “And to stop you from ever getting to Lauren,” he added, meeting his father’s burning gaze.

  “What makes you think I have any interessst in your little female?” the AllFather hissed.

  “You’re still trying to fulfill the prophecy,” Xairn said, still climbing as he spoke. He was nearly to the top step now, nearly to the cage… “You even took girls who looked like her, but they couldn’t fulfill your purpose.”

  “On the contrary, my errant ssson, they fulfilled my purpose nicely—sssince my purpose was only to make you think I wasss ssstill interested in Lauren.”

  Xairn frowned. “If you don’t want Lauren, then who do you want?”

  “You.” The AllFather’s eyes suddenly went pitch black, the red bleeding out of his irises to be replaced by a dark void. “You, my ssson! It is you that I want.”

  Xairn was taken aback by the wave of pure evil he felt pouring from his father’s empty eyes. “But…why?”

  “You ssshall sssee. But by then it will be too late.”

  The AllFather began to laugh and the vast, dark room seemed to swim around Xairn. The green etched throne, glowing with poisonous runes, the black covered cage, the AllFather himself laughing coldly, were suddenly a strange swirl of color and confusion.

  Suddenly Xairn felt as though a cold fist was gripping his heart. “No!” he tried to cry out but the word came out as a whisper. He heard Baird and Deep both shouting his name from the foot of the broad staircase but he couldn’t see them—couldn’t see anything but his father’s strange, black-on-black eyes.

  And then the draining sensation began.

  “I knew ssshe would bring you to the peak of your power,” the AllFather hissed,
his arms outstretched as he absorbed Xairn’s life force. “I knew ssshe would caussse you to mature and come into your own. And now your power will be mine—I will live forever when I have drained you, my ssson.”

  Xairn tried to answer but he was weak, so very weak… He could feel his will to live, to fight, draining away with every passing second. His fading strength seemed to delight his father.

  “You’re ssstronger than I ever dared to dream you would be,” he hissed. “Even with that ridiculousss human DNA grafted to your own, you ssstill have powersss beyond measure. But now the human part of you will be your downfall.”

  “What?” Xairn whispered. He was on his knees now, the cryo-knife dangling uselessly from one limp hand. “What…what do you mean?”

  “It holdsss you back but ssstill you cherish it.” The AllFather laughed. “Still you cannot let it go.”

  Suddenly, Xairn realized his father was right. The human DNA was holding him back—restraining him from using his power completely. In order to defeat the AllFather he would have to release it, would have to allow his Scourge DNA to come to the forefront and supplant it.

  But if I do that, I’ll never be able to be with Lauren again. It’s all that keeps my Scourge impulses in check—the only reason I’m able to be with her without hurting her, he thought desperately. Better to keep it, hang on to what little humanity I have, than revert to my former self and come back to her a ravening, lustful monster.

  Then he lifted his head and saw that the black cloth covering the cage had blown partially away. A small, feminine hand was clutching one of the bars of the cage and from its depths, he thought he saw a familiar pair of green eyes.

  Mother! Determination suddenly surged through him. He hadn’t come here to die, to allow his father to suck him dry and leave a lifeless husk behind. He was here to save her—the female whose face he had only seen in dreams. The one who had given birth to him and had him torn from her arms. The mother he had always longed to know was just a few feet away, being held in the AllFather’s cruel iron cage. He must not let her die!