“Oh, where are we going first?” Torri clapped her hands in excitement. It had taken some time to clear up the legal issues on Earth, but they were finally heading out! She couldn’t wait to hear what planet Vic had picked for the first stop on their intergalactic tour.
“I thought we might visit Ughlah Four first,” Vic said, smiling at her. “They have a Carnival Culture there that I think you’d find fascinating—celebrations and elaborate costumes and dances and pageantry every day. And there are plenty of delicious foods to sample,” he added, taking another bite of his upside-down banana split. “None of them ‘low-fat’.” He grinned at her.
“That sounds perfect,” Torri said, smiling. She was about to offer her mate a sip of her lime freeze when three girls in their twenties came and sat down at the picnic table beside them. Two of them looked very much alike in the face, though one had blond hair and gray eyes and the other had brown hair and green eyes. The third was a curvy girl like herself with long auburn hair and blue eyes.
“Is that one of them? Is that one of the Kindred?” the redhead whispered to the other two, cutting her eyes towards Vic.
“Shhh, Kat! Keep it down!” hissed the blonde girl. “He’ll hear you!”
“I wasn’t saying anything bad about them, Liv!” the redhead protested. “In fact, I’ve heard a lot of good things about them.” She lowered her voice, though Torri could still hear her though the link she shared with Vic. (Kindred had incredibly sharp hearing as well as other senses and he was still listening.) “In fact,” she whispered to the two other girls, “I’ve heard that every single one of them is hung like a horse!”
“Kat!” the brown-haired girl and the blonde protested simultaneously, though then the three of them promptly started giggling as the redhead rolled her eyes comically.
“Seriously though,” she whispered. “How could a girl, you know, fit that much inside her?” She took a bite of her ice cream and rolled her eyes again.
The blonde girl shook her head.
“Kat, you’re too much.” She took a bite of her own ice cream. “You’re always talking about the Kindred but you know none of us is likely to ever get drafted.”
“You practically have a better chance of winning the lottery,” the brunette chimed in. “Thank goodness!” she added, under her breath with a shudder. “The Kindred are so big and scary. I wouldn’t know what to think if I ended up with one—especially the kind that like to bite. You know—those Blood Kindred.” She shivered again.
“I’m not scared of being bitten, but I sure would hate to end up with a pair of the Twin Kindred,” Kat said frankly. “I mean, they’re already built like pro-wrestlers and then you’re expected to take on two at once? Please!”
“It’s the Beast Kindred that scare me,” the blonde girl named Liv murmured and her face lost all its humor. “They’re so big…so wild-looking.”
“What’s the matter, Liv—still having bad dreams?” Kat asked, giving her friend a sharp look. “About Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Scary?”
The blonde went pale.
“I’d rather not talk about it.” Picking up her half-eaten cup of ice cream, she threw it in the trash and came back, dusting her hands together.
“Hey, you’re full already?” the brunette asked, frowning. “I thought you were looking forward to Bo’s all week?”
“Sorry, Sophie—lost my appetite.” Liv sighed. “Can we go soon?”
“I’m ready when you are, womb-mate.” Sophie rose and tossed her own ice cream as well—showing solidarity with the blonde. They must be sisters, Torri speculated—probably twins, considering how much they looked alike in the face.
“You two are such spoil-sports.” Kat sighed. “We can go, but I’m not pitching my brownie fudge sundae! I worked out at the freaking gym every day this week and I deserve it!”
“Keep it, Kat woman,” Liv said, smiling a little. “I’ll drive. Come on, let’s go.”
The three of them stood up from the picnic table and were just about to go.
At that moment Torri had a fugue state—the first one she’d had since leaving St. Elizabeth’s. In it, she saw the three girls at the next table all standing in the Sacred Grove of the Mother Ship. They were going through some kind of ceremony—maybe one of them was getting married or “Joined” as the Kindred called it? She wasn’t quite sure, but she was sure that all three of them were going to end up with Kindred mates in the future.
The fugue state, or Seeing Dream, only lasted about three seconds and then Torri came back to herself. The girls were still getting up from the picnic table and gathering their trash to throw away. Somehow, she felt compelled to talk to them.
“Hang on, will you?” she murmured to her mate. She got up, leaving her lime freeze on the table and called to the girls, “Excuse me, do you know what time it is?”
“Oh, uh…” Liv looked down at her watch. “It’s nearly one.”
“Thank you.” Torri smiled at the three of them. “Listen, I heard the three of you talking about my husband,” she added.
All three of them blushed scarlet.
“Oh my goodness, we are so sorry!” the brunette called Sophie exclaimed.
“We didn’t mean anything by it, honestly,” Liv said.
“We’re just, um, curious,” Kat said frankly. “Were you called in the Bride Draft—is that how you met your Kindred?”
“Not exactly.” Torri smiled at them. “Vic was a scout, sent to check out the Earth and see if we humans would make good trade partners for the Kindred and then the two of us just fell in love. I guess you could say I’m the very first Kindred Bride.”
“Wow…the very first?” The three of them stared at her with wide eyes.
“I always wondered who was first,” Sophie murmured.
“Well don’t be shy, doll—tell us,” Kat urged. “What’s it like being married to a Kindred?”
Torri gave them a wink.
“It’s absolutely amazing. So don’t be scared when the three of you end up with Kindred husbands, too. I promise, you’re going to love it.”
Then, leaving the three of them gaping at her in shock and dismay, she went back to Vic and put a hand on his broad shoulder.
“Come on, baby,” she said, leaning down to kiss him. “Let’s get home and finish packing. Tomorrow we start our adventure!”
Epilogue #2
Deep beneath the Hell’s Gate Space Station, still locked in the slow-time vortex, the scion within the Eye of Ten’gu winced at the wrath of the Dark Father.
“What good are you?” his sire raged from the parallel universe he inhabited. “You have wasted both your chances and all of your power. You may have changed the Kindred’s timeline slightly—brought to pass a few things earlier rather than later— but you did not prevent them from coming to Earth!”
“Forgive me, Father!” the scion begged. “I can yet be of use to you—I swear that I will bring your enemies low.”