In short, it was a hideous monster and how the hell it had crammed itself into her closet, Lexi didn’t know.
“Oh my Goddess,” she gasped, skipping back from the closet so fast she lost her balance and fell flat on her ass. “Holy mother of Mercy, what is that thing?”
“Do you like it?”
The voice behind her was terribly familiar. When Lexi turned her head she saw Mistress Crueltongue standing there. The Yonnite Mistress—or was she an ex-Mistress now, Lexi’s brain wondered frantically—was wearing her signature crimson color and a cruel, amused smile on her freshly painted lips.
“What the hell did you do?” Lexi gasped, looking back up at the enormous creature that had somehow been jammed into her closet.
“You mean in the time since you ruined me financially and had me stripped of my title and mines?” Crueltongue asked? “Well, funny you should ask, because I have been a bit busy. You see, my dear Mistress Alexa, I wasn’t completely without resources, even after you ruined me. I did still have friends. Friends who owned a genetics lab and owed me quite a substantial debt.”
“I don’t care how much they owed you,” Lexi said. “They let you build that?” She pointed a trembling finger at the monster in her closet.
“Oh, yes!” Mistress Crueltongue stepped further into the room, her smile growing broader. “I bet you thought I forgot about you, or that I didn’t know where to find you since I didn’t come after you right away. But nothing could be further from the truth. You see, I put our time apart to good use, growing my next bodyslave in a vat of nutrient solution. Mistress Alexa, meet Karnivore Two. Or should I call him Karnivore Three, for obvious reasons?”
She giggled nastily as she gestured to the thing in the closet.
“Whatever you call it, it’s an abomination!” Lexi said, scrambling to her feet. “Keep that damn thing away from me!”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that—not when he’s come so far to meet you. Karnivore Two, come out and say hello to the lovely lady,” Mistress Crueltongue cooed.
At the command, the thing stooped and began the slow process of wedging its enormous body out of the cramped closet.
“You’re crazy!” Lexi didn’t like the way her voice trembled.
“I did go a little mad for a time,” Crueltongue acknowledged, still grinning that crazy grin. “I was very upset, you see, by the fact that I had gone from being one of the richest women in Opulex to being one of the poorest. It is never pleasant when one is in reduced circumstances, don’t you agree? Not that you seem to mind.” She looked around Lexi’s modest bedroom and sniffed disdainfully. “How can you live in a hovel like this when you could have stayed on Yonnie Six and had all of Trindall Tower to yourself?”
Lexi didn’t answer—she was too busy looking for a way to defend herself. She had no projectile weapons in her possession and no blunt instruments either. Since Zetta Prime was a planet mainly inhabited by women, there were very few instances of violent crime. In fact, the only thing she could find was an incandescent—a kind of candle that burned in several different colors at once. Lexi liked to light it at night and watch the multicolored shadows it threw on the walls and ceiling.
The incandescent wasn’t much, but it was all she had. Lexi flicked the switch on the bottom of the long, thin taper which lit the flame, and turned it up as much as she could. The little flame blazed forth bravely—blue and green and violet—but it was still like bringing a blade to a blaster fight.
Lexi was in big trouble and she knew it.
THIRTY-SEVEN
“Hurry, Brother—faster! She’s in trouble—I can feel it!” Gaze exclaimed.
“You think I can’t feel it too?” Bound growled back at him as he gripped the steering yoke. “I’ve had a connection to Angel from the moment she gave us her blood! I know she’s in trouble, but if I push it any faster, the heat shields will fail and we’ll burn up in the damn atmosphere. Believe me, Brother, I’m going as fast as I fuckin’ can!”
The connection he spoke of was faint, but still there. He and Gaze had taken blood several times from paid donors since their return from Yonnie Six, but only because they had to. If Bound had had his way, he never would have drunk from another female besides Angel again.
He could feel that faint throbbing in his veins—an urgency that came from the blood he’d taken from her—which lived in him still. It told him that she was in trouble—big trouble. He wanted nothing more than to be there for her, to shield her from whatever was menacing her.
Or whoever, he thought darkly, remembering the way Mistress Crueltongue had threatened the curvy little Elite. Angel had brushed off the threat as though it was nothing, but leaving her had made Bound very uneasy, and not just because he was fucking head over heels in love with her. No, he had been reluctant to leave her side because he didn’t trust Crueltongue—that female was the type who would do anything to get revenge.
“There—look!”
Gaze was pointing at the viewscreen. Though they were still speeding through the atmosphere of Zetta Prime, the outlines of a small township were taking place. And there, on the outskirts, was a little pink cottage. It was neat and well maintained but there was an alien vehicle parked behind it, past a little copse of trees that would hide it from the view of the house. A ship from Yonnie Six, if Bound wasn’t mistaken—and he knew damn well he wasn’t.
“I knew it,” he growled. “I fuckin’ knew it!”
“Knew what?” Gaze demanded as they rushed towards the little pink house.
“Never mind—we’re almost there. And the minute we get in the door, we have to be ready to fight.”
Bound bared his teeth, and felt a curtain of hot, red Rage drop over him. Beside him, he could see that Gaze’s pale blue eyes were turning red as he, too, went into the state of berserker fury all Kindred entered when their female was threatened.
He didn’t care if that fucking Mistress Crueltongue had brought a whole fucking army with her—they were all going down. Because he and his twin would fight or die to be certain their Lady was safe.
Whatever it takes, Bound thought. Whatever it fuckin’ takes, Angel. Just hold on—we’re coming!
THIRTY-EIGHT
There was no way she could win against a thing like “Karnivore Two” and Lexi knew it. Her best bet was to get out of the bedroom and run like hell. Accordingly, she turned and ran for the door.
“I don’t think so.” A sleek, silver blaster suddenly appeared in Mistress Crueltongue’s hand. “Back up,” she told Lexi. I want you to become better acquainted with my new bodyslave.” Raising her voice, she called to the monstrosity, “Come, come, now, Karnivore Two, let Mistress Alexa see your true colors. Show her what she’s been missing.”
At their Mistress’s order, the three bland faces began to stretch as the mouths opened, showing cavernous maws filled with rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth. As it changed, the three-headed thing stepped forward towards Lexi.
“Now let me see,” Mistress Crueltongue mused behind her. “Should I have Karnivore Two violate you or eat you first? As you can see, he’s well set up for either option.” She nodded at the gaping mouths and the dangling shaft which dragged across Lexi’s carpet like a dead snake.