Chapter Twenty-six
“So, I’m not a science geek or anything but I’m pretty sure we shouldn’t be able to go fifty light years away without it having some kind of effect on us or the people we left behind. I mean, won’t everyone age while we’re gone?”
Sophie watched nervously as the small, specially modified ship Sylvan was piloting approached the reddish cloud that had gathered a small distance from the Kindred Mother ship. It was the fold in space, generated by the special machine the Kindred had developed to help in their quest to find viable genetic trades. But to her it just looked like a big wound had opened in the blackness between the stars.
“If we were traveling at a normal rate of speed that would be true.” Sylvan sounded completely unconcerned, which made her feel a little better. “But we’re not. In fact, we’re only moving a few hundred yards in actual space.” His deep voice took on a scholarly tone. “Imagine space as a piece of paper and our ship is an ant that has to crawl across it. If it crawls across the entire length of the paper, it takes a great deal of time. But if someone folds the paper, the ant can get from one end of the paper to the other almost instantly. Does that make sense?” He turned to look at her and Sophie smiled.
“Yes, perfect sense. You’d make a good teacher, you know? I mean, if you weren’t already a doctor…er, medic.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” He returned her smile with one of his own—the one-sided smile she’d learned to love even though it appeared so rarely.
“I love your smile,” she said impulsively. “I mean, I hardly ever get to see it but it lights up your whole face.”
“Thank you.” His voice was soft and deep and his eyes caught hers. In the lights from the instrument panel they appeared to be glowing a soft, pale blue which Sophie rather liked. It was so much less menacing than the blood red that took over his pupils when he went into the rage state. He had appeared to be kind of stuck in that state down on Earth but now that she thought of it, ever since they’d gotten back to the ship, she hadn’t seen him that way. Not that she’d seen much of him but still…
“You seem…calmer lately,” she ventured, hoping he wouldn’t be offended. “I mean, since we came back to the Mother ship. On Earth you were, well…”
“I was out of control,” he admitted candidly. “My blood was burning and I had no way to quench the flames.”
“Oh.” Sophie looked down at her hands. “That was my fault, I guess.”
“Of course not.” He sounded almost fierce and she looked up again, wide-eyed. “Don’t ever take the blame for any of my actions on yourself,” he said sternly.
“But I thought you were…that because I wouldn’t let you…you know…”
“You weren’t ready.” Sylvan looked back at the controls. The red wound in space was growing closer. “You may never be, I see that now.”
“I…I don’t understand,” Sophie faltered.
He glanced at her again. “I saw the look on your face after I came back from dealing with your attacker.”
“About that,” Sophie began haltingly. “I’m really sorry I freaked out on you. Seeing him again just…brought everything back.”
“I thought it was probably something like that,” Sylvan said grimly. “I’m sorry I was the cause of your fear and pain.”
“No, really. I—”
“But that isn’t the only reason I spoke as I did. When I had to inject you with the translation bacteria, your fear and dread were almost overwhelming.” He shook his head. “Do you think I want to see those emotions in your eyes when I take you? When I make love to you, Sophia?”
“I…no,” she whispered, twisting her fingers together nervously. “No, I guess not.”
“I told you I didn’t want to cause you pain.” Sylvan looked back at the fold in space which was almost upon them now. “And I meant it. I’ll leave you alone from now on—I swear it.”
Oh no—another unbreakable oath! Sophie knew he didn’t break his word. Please don’t say that! The words hovered on the tip of her tongue but a single thought kept her from saying them. If she asked him not to leave her alone, not to vow to keep his distance, it was the same as encouraging him, giving him hope. And wasn’t it wrong to do that when she was still afraid to let him bite her?
If only he didn’t have to bite! she thought miserably. Why couldn’t he be any other kind of Kindred? I don’t know what Kat’s complaining about. Even having Twins to deal with wouldn’t be as scary.
“I’m sorry,” she said aloud, feeling horrible. “Really so sorry, Sylvan.”
“Let’s not speak about it,” he said shortly. “We’re about to enter the fold. It’s best to clear your mind and try to relax.”
“Will going through the fold change us in any way?” Sophie asked anxiously.
“It shouldn’t. But it’s better to remain calm—we will be passing through other dimensions, you know.”
Actually, she hadn’t known. But before she could ask any other questions, the little ship slipped into the red gash in space and everything she had ever known in her whole life disappeared.
* * * * *
Sylvan watched her from the corner of his eye as the dimensional slip took them and they crossed the fold. It didn’t hurt to go through folded space but it was an odd sensation, one he’d only experienced a few times before himself. Though the actual slip only took moments, time seemed to stretch out indefinitely, giving a person a chance to contemplate their entire life and which way it was headed.
Last time he’d crossed the fold, he had been leaving Tranq Prime and Feenah had been on his mind. A lost love. A hopeless desire destined never to come to fruition. And now, ironically, he was crossing the other way, going back to his native world, and he found himself in the exact same situation—only worse.
I never loved her as I love Sophia, he thought, watching her pale and lovely face as she stared out the viewscreen in awe. What I felt for Feenah was a pale shadow of the emotion that threatens to overwhelm me now. But he wasn’t going to let it. Wasn’t going to fall into that trap again. He had to keep the rage in check—keep the need under control so it didn’t get the best of him again. And as long as Sophia was in no physical danger, he was fairly certain he could manage that. I won’t scare her again, he told himself sternly. I won’t be the cause of her fear or her pain. I will protect her and love her—even if I have to do so from afar. Even if I am destined never to have her.
Oh, Talana…
At last the slip was over and they were on the other side of the fold. The ship flew out of the red gash in space and into the familiar territory of his own solar system. Sylvan watched as the craggy white peaks and snow-covered tundras of Tranq Prime grew larger in the viewscreen. It had been years since he had been home and he felt a strange tugging on his heart at the sight. If only his mother was still alive everything would be—
Sylvan frowned.
“Is everything all right?” Sophie asked from beside him. “Why are you frowning?”
“It’s nothing. Just…” He checked the instrument panel. “Something came through the fold with us.”
“It did? What is it?” She shifted anxiously in her seat, looking worried.
Sylvan didn’t blame her a bit. After all, look at what had happened to them the last time they’d taken what they thought would be a quick and easy trip from the Mother ship. Still…he frowned at the readout he was getting from the off-ship scanner. Then he relaxed.
“No, it’s nothing. Just a small asteroid.”
“So that’s okay?” She still looked worried.
“It’s fine,” Sylvan assured her. “It happens sometimes. When you fold space it creates a kind of vacuum—not as strong as a black hole but strong enough to suck other, smaller objects in along with our ship.”
“Good.” Sophie relaxed and scratched her knee. “Ow. Itchy,” she muttered to herself.
“Problem?” Sylvan couldn’t help looking at her bare legs. She was wearing a light blue dress which was wholly inappropriate for Tranq Prime and the knee she was scratching was the one he’d healed with his tongue after the urlich attack. How well he remembered the taste of her blood, the warmth of her skin…the memory made his fangs ache but he held them back sternly.
“No, nothing. Just an itchy knee.” She smiled up at him brightly. “So…can we call everyone back home—er—at the Mother ship and tell them we made it through okay?”
“Certainly.” Sylvan activated the com on the viewscreen and got Baird in a matter of moments.
“All well, brother?” Baird growled and Sylvan nodded.
“We’re through with no problems. We brought a small asteroid with us but nothing else of consequence.”
“That’s good.” Baird nodded. “I’ll tell Olivia.” He looked at Sophie. “She sends her love and Kat does too. She wanted to stay up and speak to you but I convinced her she needed her rest.” He touched the pale blue flower which he was wearing in the buttonhole of his front pocket. “Carrying a son can be very tiring for a female, even in the first quadmester.”
Sophia looked surprised. “Stay up and speak to me? But it’s only a little past noon.”
Sylvan shook his head. “It’s more like midnight at the Mother ship. We lost a few hours in the fold.”
“Oh, well…” Sophia appeared disappointed not to see her sister but she shrugged. “Well, Liv never was much of a night owl. Tell her I love her. And Kat too.”
“I will.” Baird nodded again. “And now we should go. Transmitting across this many light years takes enormous energy.”
“Goodbye then. We’ll speak to you again if we have anything new to tell you,” Sylvan said. “And please contact us if anything changes.”
“Will do. Goodbye, Brother.” Baird winked out and the viewscreen showed the growing grayish-white curve of Tranq Prime again.
Sophia cleared her throat and looked at him. “So we’ll be landing soon. Tell me what to expect. Where are we staying?”
“With my kin.” Sylvan hoped they wouldn’t mind—he hadn’t had much time to give them warning he was coming. “The mother of my sister,” he clarified for Sophia’s benefit. “She and her mate and their daughter live in Lanash, the main grotto on Tranq Prime.”
“Uh, grotto?” She frowned. “You live in a cave?”
“We dwell underground on Tranq Prime—the weather conditions are much too harsh to live on the surface,” Sylvan explained. “In fact, I never saw the sun above until I was nine and my father took me on a hunting trip.”
“Really? What did you hunt?”
“A vranna.”
“A what? Sorry, I thought I knew your language now.”
“You know the grammar and syntax and the basic sentence structure but there will still be a few words that are unfamiliar to you,” Sylvan told her. “A vranna is…” He tried to think how to explain. “Imagine something that’s a little like one of your grizzly bears but as tall as a giraffe covered in green-blue fur. They’re quite fierce.”
“I bet.” Her lovely green eyes were wide. “Did you kill it?”
Sylvan shrugged. “It was my manhood hunt so I was allowed the first thrust. With my shale— it’s like a long spear, twice the height of the male who carries it. And a blade on the end as long as my arm.”
“So in order to become a man you had to kill an abominable snowman?”
“A what?”
“Never mind.” She shook her head. “It’s just…that’s amazing.”
“It’s the way of my people. We can be very direct in some ways. And not so direct in others,” he finished, frowning.
“Are you trying to tell me to watch my back?” she asked frowning. “I mean, even Baird seemed to think you really need to keep your eyes and ears open down there.” She nodded at the frozen white globe which was growing larger in the viewscreen. “Do I have to worry about being eaten by one of those abominable vranna things?”
Sylvan frowned. “You have nothing to fear as long as I am with you. And we won’t be on the surface anyway so you would never be in danger from any of the larger predators.”
Her eyes widened. “Are there worse things than giraffe-sized grizzly bears wandering around?”
“Certainly. And since it’s spring time now, a lot of them will be coming out of hibernation. A very long hibernation, since winters on Tranq Prime can last for dozens of your Earth years.”
“Spring time, huh?” She sounded doubtful. “I know what that means to me—flowers blooming, birds singing…”
“We have those things.” Sylvan nodded. “Maybe not in the way you think of them but we have them. Remind me to take you to see the snowdrop trees in bloom. They only blossom for a short time in spring. In fact, we may be just in time for the Snowdrop Festival. There’s a feast and a dance—it’s quite a big deal.”
“A festival? That sounds like fun.” She smiled. “You know, I was kind of apprehensive at first but now I really want to see your home planet.”
“Really? Are you interested in other cultures?”
“Just yours, mainly,” she said and then blushed.
Sylvan wished she didn’t looks so bewitchingly pretty when her cheeks turned that soft shade of pink. It made him want to drag her into his lap and kiss her until she couldn’t breathe. Until she bared her neck for him and begged for his bite… Never going to happen, he told himself roughly. Get over it. Move on.
“Well, you’re not ready to see my planet yet,” he said, more abruptly than he’d intended.
“I’m not?”
“No. If you set foot on the surface in what you’re wearing you’ll freeze to death in moments. Go to the back of the shuttle and look in the upright locker.”
Sophia did as he asked and came back wearing an oversized green-blue fur that dragged the ground. “I’m swimming in this thing.” She motioned at herself, the furry arm of the coat flopping.
“Yes, I’m sorry. It’s actually mine,” Sylvan apologized. “I had no time to get any in your size on such short notice. But I’m certain my mother’s sister can find you something once we get below the surface.”
“But what about you?” she objected. “You’ve only got your blue uniform shirt. I don’t want to take your coat—you’ll freeze.”
“Not nearly as quickly as you will.” Sylvan set the shuttle’s landing sequence on autopilot and turned back to her. “Blood Kindred have twice the number of red blood cells that humans do. They carry more oxygen and keep us warmer. Besides, we only have a few hundred yards to go from the landing area to the grotto entrance.”
“Uh…what about shoes?” She looked down at her woefully inadequate footwear. Two little straps went between her first and second toes and attached to a flat pad at the bottom, leaving her entire delicate foot exposed. Sylvan thought they were called “flop-flips” or something equally ridiculous. He couldn’t help noticing, though, that her toenails were painted an innocent shell-pink which was somehow devastatingly feminine.
“Those won’t do at all,” he told her sternly. “And I don’t have any boots that will fit you. I’ll just have to carry you.”
“Oh no, I don’t want you to have to do that. If it’s just a few yards like you said, I’m sure I can manage.”
Sylvan felt his heart knot like a fist. “A few hundred yards,” he corrected her gruffly. “Is there some reason you don’t want me to carry you? Remember I swore to leave you alone so you don’t have to worry that—”
“No, no!” she said hastily, cutting him off. “No, I just didn’t want to…to burden you.”
“You could never be a burden to me, Talana.” The endearment slipped from him before he could help it. Clearing his throat, he tried to cover his mistake. “Besides, if you don’t want to lose your pretty toes to frostbite, you’ll have to be carried whether you like it or not.”
Sophia went pale. “It’s that cold?”
He nodded. “It’s that cold.”
She bit her lush lower lip, another gesture that made him want her so much he ached. “Then I would like it very much if you would carry me, Sylvan,” she said in a low voice. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Truth be told, despite the biting cold he knew they would encounter, he was looking forward to the short trip between the landing area and the grotto.
It would probably be the last chance he ever got to hold her in his arms.