Also Present Day
“So how was your meeting with the Mistress?” Baird took a sip of his Junian ale. The dark pink liquid fizzed and bubbled, the bubbles turning a bright green just before they popped. It was a specialty of the small bar near the control center of the Mother Ship. Since Sylvan was the Head of the Kindred High Council and the bar was close by, the brothers had taken to coming here to relax at the end of a long day.
“Well enough,” Sylvan said but it was clear the false heartiness he forced into his voice didn’t fool his brother.
“Well enough, huh?” Baird asked flatly. “It was bound to be fucking weird meeting face-to-face with one of those Yonnie Six females who thinks all males are scum under their boots. What did she do—try to break you to her will?”
“No—no, nothing like that.” Sylvan sighed and took a sip of his own ale. “She had no need of me—she had a slave with her already.”
He frowned as he remembered the troubling encounter with the Yonnite Mistress…
He hadn’t wanted a face-to-face meeting but Mistress Hellenix had insisted and since the cargo he was delivering was precious, Sylvan had felt bound to agree.
The cargo in question were the Druvian E’lo stones which had been found among Sovereign X’izith’s possessions when the lair under the mountains of Mars had been sacked. There was one seer stone—a large green one as big as the palm of his hand—and one smaller, purple stone, about the size and shape of the small chocolate Earth candies called M&Ms.
When the stones had been discovered, Sylvan had attempted to return them to the auction house they had been stolen from. However, he was informed that a private buyer had already bought and paid for the stones before they had been taken. Sylvan was asked to return the rare gems to their rightful owner and he had agreed—though he was sorry he had when he found out exactly who he would be meeting.
The stones had been claimed by Mistress Hellenix, a prominent member of the Yonnite social scene. Apparently she owned a large estate outside their capital city of Opulex where she held court at a number of functions. She also owned several other properties both on and off planet and traveled more than most Mistresses, many of whom tended to stay within their little female-dominated bubble on Yonnie Six.
Sylvan found out these facts because he did some research into the matter before he met with the Mistress—he didn’t like to go into any meeting blind—no matter how brief or perfunctory.
Mistress Hellenix had swept into the private room she’d rented for the purpose, on a space port orbiting Garna D’na—a planet almost exactly halfway between Earth and Yonnie Six. It was the meeting place she had requested and Sylvan had seen no reason to object.
“So… Commander Sylvan of the Kindred.” She had looked him up and down as Sylvan rose courteously and bowed.
“Mistress Hellenix. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“Likewise, I’m sure,” the Mistress purred. She didn’t offer to shake hands or clasp arms for which Sylvan was grateful. He had no wish to touch her, lovely though she was.
“Please, have a seat.” He motioned to the chair across from him.
“When I’m ready. You look like a strapping boy,” she remarked, circling Sylvan in her six-inch black heeled boots—like a tiger stalking its prey, he thought—before finally dropping gracefully onto the purple tergle-hide cushion of the seat he’d offered her.
“I am average for my kind,” he said neutrally. “All Kindred males are large.”
“Indeed they are. Even so, I’m surprised some enterprising Mistress hasn’t brought you to heel.” She smiled, her lush crimson lips parting to reveal white, even teeth. “I’d be willing to undertake the enterprise myself if I wasn’t so busy.”
“Thank you but I already have a mate whom I love very much,” Sylvan replied blandly, thinking that if Sophia could see Mistress Hellenix she would probably have some choice words for her—the term “man-eater” leapt readily to mind.
“Never mind that.” Mistress Hellenix waved one hand languidly. She had long, straight black hair which fell like a curtain around her exquisite features framing her large dark eyes and crimson lips. “I already have a Kindred of my own, anyway.” She raised one bejeweled hand and snapped her fingers sharply. “Slave! Where are you? Why are you dawdling outside the doorway instead of protecting me as you’re supposed to?”
A massive male came into the room—big even by Kindred standards. He had long, wheat-colored hair which hung to his shoulders and his eyes were pure, piercing silver.
Sylvan frowned and looked more closely. Silver eyes? Which kind of Kindred was this male? The only warriors who had pure silver eyes and attained such large size were the Volt Kindred. But they had all been killed off years ago when the artificial intelligence they allowed to run their world systems had become self-aware and rebelled, murdering them all. Now the entire planet was completely uninhabitable—run and ruled entirely by machines which were hostile to any organic life forms.
It was a great tragedy among Kindred kind and also the main reason why AI usage aboard the Mother Ship was strictly monitored. No one wanted a repeat of what had happened on Uriel Two, the Volt Kindred’s adopted home world.
“Brother?” Sylvan said, speaking to the slave. But the massive warrior ignored him. He was, Sylvan saw, dressed completely in shiny black leather with a thick collar cinched cruelly tight around his brawny neck. Even if he was a Volt Kindred, it was clear he wasn’t able to use his natural abilities to free himself. The collar probably saw to that—inhibiting his power and giving him a nasty shock when the Mistress wished it to.
“I’m afraid he speaks only to me and only when commanded to do so,” Mistress Hellenix snapped at Sylvan.
“He is a living, sentient being—a free creature,” Sylvan growled back. To the Seven Hells with diplomacy. He couldn’t sit by and watch one of his Kindred brothers treated like this! “You cannot subjugate another to your will in this way—it isn’t right.”
“Not right, you say?” The Mistress gave a throaty laugh. “But my Malik responds so well to subjugation.” She snapped her fingers again. “Mal, on your knees before me.’
Without hesitation, the massive male dropped to his knees before his mistress’s chair.
“Now then…” Sitting up from her sensuous slouch, Mistress Hellenix waved a hand in front of her tight leather bustier. The black leather melted away like magic, leaving her full breasts bare. One nipple, Sylvan saw, was coated in bright, sparkling red and gold powder of some kind—almost like colored sugar crystals. The other was dusted in the same way but the sparkling powder covering it was a cool blue and white.
“I really don’t see—” he began but Mistress Hellenix shushed him with one upraised hand.
“You will, Commander Sylvan,” she murmured. “Now then, Malik—which shall it be?” she crooned. “The bitter or the sweet? Fire or ice?”
“Whatever my Mistress wills.” The slave’s deep voice was utterly without inflection. Truly, he seemed not to care what happened to him.
“Well then—let it be fire. For it is my wish that you have pain, my pet. Show your kinsman how willingly you will endure agony for me.”
Again, without hesitation, the massive Kindred leaned forward and sucked the red and gold dusted nipple into his mouth. He was so tall, compared to his rather diminutive Mistress, that even on his knees before her he had to duck his head to capture her peak in his mouth. But he did it without expression, sucking her deep and hard without stopping although sweat almost immediately sprang up on his brow.
“Mmmm…that’s good.” Mistress Hellenix stroked his long, wheat-colored hair approvingly. “Does it pain you, my Malik? Does it make your shaft ache? How long has it been since I allowed you out of your little chastity cage, hmm?”
The huge warrior made no answer but simply continued sucking. Looking between his legs, Sylvan saw with horror that there was, indeed, some kind of cage attached to his genitals which were visible outside the tight leather trousers he wore. The cage appeared to be made of some kind of silver wire and it hung low between his thighs as though to accommodate his massive size while keeping his shaft from being accessible to his hands.
To an untrained eye it might appear that the Kindred slave was performing willingly—or even enjoying himself. But along with the sweat that beaded the Volt Kindred’s brow, Sylvan saw that his hands were clenched into huge fists. And tiny silver sparks of pure power were jumping from knuckle to knuckle. Hmm…perhaps he had been wrong about the male not being able to use his powers.
“All right,” he said hoarsely. “You’ve proved your point. I see that he’ll do anything you want—you can stop your sadistic little demonstration.”
The Mistress waved one hand negligently.
“Sit back, Malik.”
The slave sat back on his heels, his face still completely expressionless. But was that a spark of pure hatred, burning down deep in the silver depths of his eyes? If so, he hid it well. But Sylvan could see he was still sweating—his hands still clenching by his sides. No matter how iron his self-control it was clear he was in horrible pain.
“What have you done to him?” he asked, more upset than ever as the doctor part of him protested this cruel treatment. “Is he still hurting?”
“Oh yes—of course. The pain will continue until I let him suck my other nipple—where the antidote to the fire dust is located.” She smiled languidly. “I’ll do that presently. But first, where are my stones?”
“Here.” Sylvan thought about holding the valuable stones hostage until she agreed to release her Kindred slave. But they weren’t his to bargain with since the auction house was involved. Unhappily, he unwrapped the stones from the clean, white cloth he’d brought them in and thrust them out, careful not to touch them directly with his bare skin.
“Ahh…at last, my E’lo stones,” Mistress Hellenix gloated, leaning over Sylvan’s proffered hand. She frowned. “I see the seer stone and one of the transport stones—but where is the other?”
“That one was lost when the Hive used it to transport an Earth female to their lair,” Sylvan said stiffly. “We are still searching for it but it may have been swept into the Earth’s oceans. Where it is now is anyone’s guess.”
“One transport stone isn’t much use without the other, now is it?” the Yonnite Mistress snapped. She sighed. “Ah well—they’re for display purposes only anyway. Though I want the missing stone immediately if it’s found.”
“Of course.” Sylvan nodded. “But I would be cautious with the one remaining transport stone if I were you. Though they were reconfigured by the Hive to bring one particular female from Earth to Mars, they were originally intended to cause two people in different parts of the Universe to switch places in an instant. If someone on Earth was to find the missing stone and touch it, just as you were touching that one—”
“Oh, please!” The Yonnite Mistress laughed as though he’d said something crazy. “Everyone knows the stones don’t actually work anymore—not as they were intended to. They’re only useful as curiosities—collector’s pieces. Besides, in order for them to function in that way the person picking up the stone would have to be a virtual doppelganger of me—almost my genetic twin. Do you know how rare that is?” She frowned and rose, cupping the stones in their white cloth carefully in her palms. “I can’t see the clarity of these as I’d like to.”
“The lighting in this room is dim,” Sylvan said. “Outside in the hall it’s much brighter.”
“Indeed?” Nodding to herself, Mistress Hellenix made her way out of the small room, apparently unconcerned that her bare breasts were still fully on display.
The minute the door slid shut behind her, Sylvan turned to the big slave.
“Listen to me, Brother,” he said urgently. “I’m going to get you out of here. I’ll make an offer to buy you from Mistress Hellenix. If she refuses the offer, I’ll find another way. I—”
“Save it,” the Volt Kindred snapped, cutting him off. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“What?” Sylvan couldn’t have been more shocked if the massive warrior had suddenly turned into a bird and flown away. “Why not?” he demanded.
“I have my reasons,” Malik growled. “Think I let myself be captured by accident? Think I stay with her for the fun of it?” He jerked his head at the doorway, indicating his Mistress, still out in the hall. “Not Goddess-damned likely.”
“What reasons?” Sylvan demanded. “Do you enjoy this kind of treatment?”
The silver eyes flashed and sparked. For a moment, it seemed that jagged forks of lightening were about to break free of their silvery surface.
“Fuck, no I don’t enjoy it!” Malik snarled. “It’s fucking sick the perverted things she does to me!” He nodded down to the wire mesh cage locked around his shaft. “You think I enjoy this shit? Seven Hells, no! But it’s necessary to—”
“Yes, they’re genuine.” Mistress Hellenix came strolling back in, her full breasts still completely exposed. “Oh, Malik,” she cooed, looking down at the huge warrior still kneeling on the carpet. “I forgot all about you—are you still in pain?”
“My pain will endure as long as my Mistress wills it,” the Volt Kindred answered stoically.
“Poor baby!” She stood in front of him and pressed her breasts into his face. “Go on—take the sweet to put out the fire,” she urged.
With a low groan of relief, Malik leaned forward and sucked the nipple with the blue and white dust on it. At once the sweat standing out on his brow began to dry and after a moment, he started to shiver and his lips turned positively blue.
“Oh dear…” Mistress Hellenix gave a mischievous giggle. “Did I mix too much ice dust into the sweet powder again? You’d better stop, Mal, before your tongue becomes an ice cube.”
Malik pulled back again and again his face was completely impassive—except for that tiny spark of hatred far back in his silver eyes.
Sylvan wondered how the Yonnite Mistress failed to see that dark emotion. Didn’t it worry her to have one so big and powerful who hated her so intensely this close to her? Or did she relish the warrior’s hate and count it as a kind of spice to her play?
Whatever the answer, it was clear there wasn’t much Sylvan could do about the situation—not if Malik didn’t want to be free.
“I must go,” he said, rising from his chair. “I need to get back to the Mother Ship.”
“Indeed,” Mistress Hellenix purred, smiling up at him. “Well do take care of yourself, Commander. And don’t forget to let me know if you locate my missing transport stone.”
Sylvan nodded curtly and then looked once more at the big Volt Kindred, still on his knees before his mistress. The male’s lips were blue, as though he’d just been exposed to the deepest winter on Sylvan’s home world of Tranq Prime.
“I wish you the best, Malik. You know where the Mother Ship is.”
“It might as well be in a parallel universe for all my sweet Malik is concerned.” Reaching into some hidden pocket, Mistress Hellenix pulled out a long leather leash and clipped it to the silver ring on the front of Malik’s collar. “Since he’ll never get free of me to get there. Not that he wants freedom, do you my sweet?”
“Why would I wish to be free of my Mistress?” he rumbled, his face a closed mask. “She gives me everything I need.”
“Including regular canings.” She tugged at the leash. “Come, Malik. I find I’m eager to cane you now and watch those hard, firm buttocks turn the color of a Synthian sunset.” She winked at Sylvan. “I’ll be thinking of you while I do it, Commander. In fact, I do believe you’ll provide me with some very rewarding fantasies for quite some time to come.”
Sylvan had no idea what to say to such a thing. Knowing that the Yonnite Mistress was going to be fantasizing about him while she beat her slave and perhaps did…other things…was disconcerting to say the least.
“Safe…safe journeys,” he managed to say at last.
“Indeed. I think I’ll be able to come to my destination without too much trouble.” Mistress Hellenix gave him a last, lascivious look and then jerked on the black leather leash in her hands. “Come, Malik.”
Without a word, or a single backward glance, the massive Volt Kindred rose to his feet and followed his Mistress out of the room.
Bemused, Sylvan watched them go. And then, at last, he took his own leave.
“Fuck,” Baird muttered when Sylvan finished telling the story. “So she dragged him out by a leash and he just let her?”
Sylvan shrugged. “He went willingly. He must have a good reason to be with her.”
“Maybe he’s looking for something,” Baird suggested. “Remember we sent Thornex to go undercover as a slave for a Yonnite Mistress.”
“Yes, but Thorn fell in love with his Mistress and brought her back to us,” Sylvan reminded him. “I don’t think there is any danger of Malik falling for Mistress Hellenix. In fact, if I had to guess, I’d say he genuinely loathes her.”
“You think we should try to do something for him? Rescue him somehow?” Baird shook his head. “I hate to think of one of our brothers being enslaved in circumstances like that. No matter what he told you he can’t be happy.”
Sylvan sighed. “If he was native to the Mother Ship I’d say yes, we have to go after him. But I’m fairly certain he was a Volt Kindred and you know how volatile they can be.”
“Strong too,” Baird growled. “The way they conduct electricity—I watched an old vid of it once…” He shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Sylvan took another sip of his drink thoughtfully.
“My gut feeling is that Malik can take care of himself,” he said. “I think when he gets what he wants from Mistress Hellenix and he’s ready to leave, he’ll go. I don’t believe she’ll be able to hold him.”
“All right, so leave him be. But what about the E’lo stones?” Baird asked. “Those things can be fucking dangerous in the wrong hands. Are we really going to give the missing one back to this sadistic Mistress Hellenix if someone finds it?”
Sylvan shook his head. “I don’t know. I’d have to take it under serious consideration but honestly, I doubt anyone is ever going to find the missing stone. No one has any idea where it went although Harper did say she was taken from a beach somewhere near St. Petersburg on Earth.” He frowned. “That was before she ‘vanished’ out of our time line.”
“Did she really go into the future?” Baird asked.
Sylvan shrugged. “That’s what Kat told Sophia and me. She was in the Sacred Grove when the time door opened and the Goddess called Harper through into the future.”
Baird shook his head. “It’s amazing but pretty damn confusing. All this time-traveling crap gives me a headache.”
“It’s enough to know that the Goddess is watching out for us,” Sylvan said.
“And what about Shad—the younger Shad, I mean?” Baird combed a hand through his hair and rumbled laughter. “Gods, it’s strange to say it like that. But have you talked to Deep and Lock lately? Is the little guy all right?”
“No more nightmares,” Sylvan reported. “Deep says he told Kat that the “pretty lady” is happy and safe.”
“Well good.” Baird grinned. “Then I guess we know for certain everything came out just fine."
“For us.” Sylvan frowned. “But I can’t help it, Brother—my mind still turns back to Malik. I didn’t even know any Volt Kindred survived the decimation of their planet.”
“It’s like you said, if he wants to get away from her, he can,” Baird said. “You have to let it go, Sylvan. You have enough on your plate running the Mother Ship.”
“You’re probably right.” Sylvan sighed. But he couldn’t help thinking of that spark of hate glinting in the depths of Malik’s pure silver eyes. Why was he with the cruel Mistress Hellenix? What did he hope to accomplish? And what of the missing E’lo stone? Where had it gone? Would it ever be found? And who would find it?
Sylvan sighed. These were mysteries too deep for him—best left to the Goddess.
He just hoped everything would work out well in…
The End?
In fact, what we have here is another beginning.
For years people have been asking me to write books about the Kindred kids and, as you can see, Vanished is a lead-in to that, as well as being a continuation of the main Kindred series.
I can now write in two different time lines—the present where Sylvan and Sophia and Baird and Liv and Kat and Deep and Lock and all the rest are, and also in the future, where Shad and War and Peace and the rest of the Kindred kids are all grown up and ready to have adventures of their own.
I’m especially interested in telling Kara’s story (it’s hard to find a warrior who wants to date a girl with fangs) as well as writing how War and Peace convince Ziza they ought to be together. (Ziza has a mind of her own and she’s going to give our boys a run for their money.)
I’m also excited to write Brides of the Kindred 22. Why is Malik allowing the cruel Mistress Hellenix to abuse him—what is his plan and reason for staying with her instead of breaking free? Where is that last E’lo transport stone and who is going to find it? What’s going to happen when they do?
Those of you who follow me on Facebook know I also have another idea for my Kindred Tales series, about a race of giant Kindred (8-9 feet tall) who bond with normal sized women. That one kind of jumped to the head of the muse's line and it will be coming out in late February or early March. Read on below for a taste of Taming the Giant.
And after that, who knows? If only I could clone myself and write all three series at once. But thank you all for being patient—I hope to have multiple books in The Brides of the Kindred, the Children of the Kindred, and the Kindred Tales series (which stands outside the main Kindred storyline) out this year. Oh, and I also want to write Cougarville 4, Big Bad Wolf, and possibly Alien Mate Index 5…and whatever else the muse brings me.
Which one is coming after Taming the Giant? You’ll have to keep reading to find out. ; ) In the meantime, I hope you’re all having a Happy New Year!
Hugs and Happy Reading
Evangeline Jan 2018
Now Read on for a sneak peek at Taming the Giant, the next Kindred Tales novel coming at the end of February or the beginning of March…
A Kindred Tales novel
The Princess and the Giant…
Meet the Jor’gen Kindred. After leaving the main Mother Ship centuries ago to make a genetic trade with a massive race of people, they are thirty percent bigger than their ancestors. Which makes them 9 feet tall—giants to regular sized humanoids. Now, hundreds of years after the genetic trade which made them so huge, the Jor’gen Kindred have no more females and are seeking a new people to trade with. Bram, their captain, has been dream-sharing with a female from a small, cold, rocky planet at the far edge of the galaxy. The problem? She’s tiny compared to him.
Alanah is the ruler of her people but not by choice. After a plague carried off all the men and boys, including her father the king, she and the female members of her pre-industrial society were left to fend for themselves. Alanah has always felt like an outsider. Not only is she a princess but she’s considered much too tall for a woman. The other ladies at court sneer at her behind her back, wondering where she will ever find a man big enough to take her on.
Enter Bram, a giant three feet taller than Alanah. Suddenly the formerly too-tall princess is feeling positively petite. But Alanah’s planet is stuck in the Dark Ages and Kindred technology looks like magic to them—black magic. Can Alanah overcome the will of the Elder Witch and convince her people the giant race is safe to join with? And can she and Bram overcome their differences—both physical and emotional—to have Bonding Sex?
You’ll have to read Taming the Giant to find out.