Deceived

by Evangeline Anderson

  Anna thought of going back to Aka’ja and felt loathing rise inside her. That’s where Lazlo took me from in the first place, whispered a little voice in her head. That’s where he found me and decided I was easy prey…

  She supposed she could see her girlfriends again, but what would she tell them? She hadn’t minded spilling all the awful things that had been done to her to Liv and Sophie—they were kind and impartial strangers. But she couldn’t imagine going through the litany of evil and pain she’d endured again with people she knew more intimately.

  “Actually, Mom, I’m really tired,” she said. “Do you mind if I stay here?”

  “Oh honey—” her mom began but Liv stepped in.

  “I really don’t want Anna traveling right now,” she said firmly. “What she needs is rest—lots of it. I was going to release her and put her up in a guest suite close to the Med Center.”

  Anna’s mom bit her lip.

  “But…do you think she ought to be alone right now?” she asked anxiously. “I just thought…after everything she’s been through…”

  “I’m not a suicide risk, Mom,” Anna reassured her. “I fought hard to stay alive so I could see you and Brex again. I’m not going to do anything to myself, I promise—I just want to sleep.” She yawned and put a hand to her mouth. “Oh, I am so tired.”

  “Well, if you’re sure…” Her mom was still hesitating.

  “If it will make you feel any better, I’ll give Anna a think-me so she can contact me any time of the day or night if she feels bad,” Liv told her.

  “You’d do that? Oh thank you!” Finally, Anna’s mom looked relieved. She turned to Anna. “I’m so sorry to be leaving you like this, honey. I promise we’ll be back as soon as we can. If it wasn’t so urgent—”

  “Please don’t worry, Mom,” Anna told her. “I’ll probably just…” She yawned again. “Just sleep the whole time you’re gone,” she finished.

  “All right, well, I want to see you settled in your room before we go at least,” her mom said.

  “Just let me run these blood samples to the lab and I’ll be back to escort her personally,” Liv promised. “Sophie—you want to come with me?”

  “Sure.” Sophie smiled and squeezed Anna’s arm before leaving with her sister.

  * * * * *

  Outside the door, Liv took a deep breath and her sister smiled at her.

  “Well? How is your first night as a full-fledged healer turning out?”

  Liv had just completed the healer training course and she was a nurse no longer, but a Kindred-certified doctor, able to see patients and prescribe treatment or medications on her own. She still couldn’t do surgery, but then, she didn’t really want to. Her passion lay in seeing and treating patients in person and she was happy to leave the surgery to Sylvan and Yipper, the little Tolleg who was the Mother Ship’s surgical specialist.

  “Things are going pretty well, so far,” she told Sophie cautiously. “I mean, I don’t want to jinx myself but it’s been smooth sailing all night.”

  “I’m glad you ended up with Anna as your patient,” Sophie said quietly. “I think she needed your extra-special bedside manner.”

  “You helped her more than I did, I think,” Liv objected. “I think it was important for her to know she’s not alone.”

  “I need to get her information on that survivors support group that meets in the Sacred Grove on Wednesday nights,” Sophie said thoughtfully as they turned the corner and entered the small lab that was part of the Med Center. “She’s been through a lot—first with that horrible jerk who sold her in the first place and then living with a monster just waiting for him to…” She shivered, not finishing the sentence.

  “It’s bad but I think she’ll be okay. Especially if we can get her Blood Kindred back here to talk to her,” Liv said. “If they’ve been Dream Sharing, they need to be together. That’s going to help her more than anything else.”

  “You’re right,” Sophie agreed, watching as Liv fed the blood samples into the Analyzer. It was a compact, silver machine run by a rudimentary AI, as was much of the Kindred medical equipment.

  “Analyze samples,” Liv told it as she shut the silver door. “Look for any traces of foreign toxins as well as running the usual battery of tests.”

  She expected the machine—which she had used a thousand times before—to say, “Acknowledged” in its tinny, mechanical voice and then start humming to itself as it spun down the blood samples. But to her surprise a strangely human-sounding voice replied instead.

  “I don’t know how to do that,” it said uncertainly. “What am I even doing here?”

  “What are you doing here?” Liv asked blankly. “You’re a blood analyzing machine. You’re supposed to be analyzing blood!”

  “No, I’m not!” the Analyzer protested. “I’m Richard Denton of Trenton, Ohio and I demand that you take me home immediately!”

  “Oh my God—what in the world?” Liv took a step back from the shiny silver machine.

  “Oh, I meant to tell you,” Sophie exclaimed. “I had something like this happen to me just before I came to see you and Anna! The twins spilled cereal on the carpet so I called Roombie over to clean it up.”

  Roombie was the name she had given her house-cleaning bot, Liv knew. The bots were immensely helpful since they vacuumed, washed and folded laundry, cleaned dishes, and did various other household chores that always seemed to need doing like making the beds and taking out trash.

  “So what—it wouldn’t clean up the cereal?” she asked her sister.

  Sophie shook her head, her eyes wide.

  “It asked me why didn’t I clean up my own mess and why was I so lazy—can you believe that?”

  “Now I can,” Liv said, eyeing the Analyzer.

  “I tell you, I want to go home!” it said. “I swore to you when you took me that I wouldn’t tell anyone about this, ahem, abduction. But if you don’t take me home immediately, all bets are off. I’ll go to the press! I swear I will!”

  “Wow,” Sophie murmured. “I’m not even sure what to say to it. I think they were having the same kinds of problems on the trams—something to do with a computer glitch or virus in the communications system.”

  “I’m not going to say anything,” Liv remarked. “And I’m not going to let some glitchy machinery ruin my first night as a healer. I’ll send the samples to the Med Center on the other side of the Mother Ship.”

  As she spoke, she took the tubes full of Anna’s blood out of the tray and put them in a chilled envelope which she quickly addressed. She wrote a note of instruction, and slipped the envelope into the pneumatic tube which led to the other Med Center. Due to their proximity to the Docking Bay, they often had too many samples to analyze in this particular center and it was common practice to send them over to the less busy center when there was an overflow or a problem.

  “Are you going to wait for the results to release Anna?” Sylvan asked.

  Liv shook her head. “They’re mostly a formality. I think she’s fine—especially if she’s had a Blood Kindred biting her. His essence should have neutralized any foreign toxins. She just needs to rest.”

  “I’ll go with you to help her get settled in a suite,” Sophie offered. “Sylvan said to take as much time as necessary—he’s putting the twins to bed tonight.”

  “Baird’s putting Daniel to bed too.” Liv smiled. “Are we lucky to have such awesome hubbies?”

  “We’re blessed we ended up with Kindred,” Sophie agreed. “Let’s just pray that Anna ends up with her Kindred as well.”

  “I’m sure the Goddess will work it out,” Liv said confidently. “Come on—let’s go.”

  They left the Analyzer still insisting that it was from Ohio and it wanted to go home and went to get Anna settled.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  “Thank you again.” Anna’s mother shook their hands when they all stepped out of the guest suite. Anna was tucked snugly in bed and already asleep, thanks to the mild
sedative Liv had given her. She had looked so peaceful as she lay there under the covers, Liv thought—as though after a long, weary journey she could finally relax. It did her heart good to see her patient looking so comfortable and content and she was glad to be ending her first shift as a healer on a high note.

  “You’re more than welcome,” she told Anna’s mother. “And the think-me is on her bedside table—she knows she can call me if there’s any kind of problem.”

  “You’re so kind.” Anna’s mother’s eyes were filled with tears. “I’m so glad she has such good care after…after all the awful things that happened to her.”

  “Your daughter is strong,” Sophie said firmly. “She’s going to make it through—you’ll see.”

  “I hope you’re right. I feel so bad. If I hadn’t agreed to move us to Aka’ja in the first place—” her mother began.

  “You can’t play the what-if game, hon,” Liv told her gently. “And you can’t blame yourself. Although I know that as mothers, we are so, so good at that.”

  “Sometimes it seems like guilt is a major part of motherhood,” Sophie agreed. “But you can’t take everything on yourself. At some point, you have to let go.”

  “I know you’re right. I…I’ll try.” Anna’s mom dabbed her eyes with a tissue and gave them a watery smile. “I’d better get going now. Brex is waiting for me in the Docking Bay.”

  “Go on.” Liv squeezed her shoulder gently. “We’ll take good care of Anna while you’re gone—I promise.”

  “Thank you,” Anna’s mother said again and then walked off down the hall, still dabbing at her eyes.

  “Whew!” Liv rubbed her eyes. “Well, that’s it for me. I’ve got an early shift tomorrow and I need to get to bed.”

  “I need to be up early too.” Sophie yawned. “Come on, I’ll walk you to the tram station—if the trams are running, that is. They weren’t earlier because of that crazy AI glitch.”

  “Are all the machines with AI’s affected, then?” Liv asked, frowning.

  Sophie shrugged. “Don’t know. This mess was just starting when Sylvan asked me to come see you and Anna. I was hoping it would be fixed by the time we finished here.”

  “Well, maybe it is. Come on.”

  But as they started down the long metal corridor, an older Beast Kindred came around the corner.

  “Excuse me,” he said gruffly. “But are the two of you Sophia and Olivia Waterhouse?”

  “Waterhouse is our maiden name,” Liv answered. “Can we help you?”

  “Well…” The big Beast Kindred shuffled his feet. He looked to be in his mid-sixties, Liv thought. There were lines around his golden eyes and distinguished-looking patches of silver at his temples, though those were the only markers of his age. He was still in excellent physical shape—most Kindred males tended to stay healthy and muscular their entire lives.

  “Is there something wrong?” Sophie asked gently, seeing how he was hesitating.

  “I…do not think so. But you might, when you learn what has happened. Still—there is no point in delaying and cowardice.” He lifted his chin. “Will you come with me? I have someone I need you to meet.”

  Liv was mystified. The only thing she could imagine was that the big Kindred had a friend with an embarrassing injury who needed a doctor that would keep quiet about it rather than insisting he come to the Med Center.

  “Look,” she said, trying to sound nice but firm. “It’s the end of my shift and I’m really tired. If your friend will just come to the Med Center—”

  “There is no need for the Med Center,” the big Kindred told her. “And my ‘friend’ is your friend too. Or at least, she says she is related to you.”

  “What?” Liv and Sophie exchanged uncertain glances. They didn’t have any female relatives aboard the Mother Ship but Lauren, who was their cousin. Had she been hurt somehow? But why wouldn’t she just come into the Med Center or bespeak one of them with a think-me?

  “Please,” the older Kindred said. “It’s not far—just around the corner.”

  Sighing, Liv shrugged. “Well…all right, I guess.”

  “If you’re going, I am too.” Sophie fell into step beside her as they walked around the corner and down a branching corridor, following the older Beast Kindred.

  As he had said, it wasn’t far. They hadn’t gone a hundred feet before he opened the door to a privacy room. The small, private spaces were scattered around the Mother Ship. They were intended for people who were too far from their home suites to eat lunch or even grab a power nap during the work day. In fact, there was a napping pod in the corner of this room, and it appeared to be occupied, Liv saw. But she couldn’t see its occupant because the privacy shield was down over the egg-shaped pod and only a pair of long, shapely female legs were sticking out from under it.

  As they watched, the black and silver privacy shield lifted, revealing a stunning woman who looked to be about thirty. She had long blonde hair and wide, cornflower blue eyes and she didn’t look completely human.

  “Oh my God, it’s one of the pairing puppets!” Sophie exclaimed, clapping a hand to her mouth.

  “Not anymore, Sophie, dear.” The doll’s voice was somehow familiar, which made no sense considering that Liv and Sophie had no need or reason to ever visit the Pairing House, where the pairing puppets who serviced the unmated Kindred stayed.

  “Who is that?” Sophie asked, speaking to Liv but keeping her eyes locked on the pairing puppet, who had risen smoothly from the nap pod and was striding towards them.

  “I don’t know but she seems to know us even if we don’t know her,” Liv murmured from the corner of her mouth.

  “Of course, I know you!” the pairing puppet exclaimed, smiling. “How could I not know Livvy and Sophie—my two sweet granddaughters? Oh my, you’re both so big now!”

  “Granddaughters?” Liv took a step back. “What are you talking about? You’re a pairing puppet!”

  “I guess this body must belong to a pairing puppet—if that’s what you call it,” the puppet said. “But I’m actually your Nana Ruth.”

  “Nana Ruth?” Sophie shook her head. “I…I don’t understand.”

  “Well, I don’t either, dearie, but here I am.” The puppet—or, if she was to believed, Nana Ruth—spread her hands in a gesture that seemed to say, what can you do?

  “Okay, go back to the beginning,” Liv said. “How long have you been…um, like this?”

  “Well, the last thing I remember was being captured by that alien spaceship,” Nana Ruth said thoughtfully. “And then, all of a sudden, I was here. I was sitting in a pretty living room with lots of other girls and then this nice gentleman here…” She nodded at the older Beast Kindred. “Came along and asked if I would like to do the sex act with him.”

  “Oh my—Nana Ruth!” Sophie put a hand to her mouth, her cheeks flaming red.

  Liv felt like blushing herself but she couldn’t deny, if the pairing puppet was doing an impression of her late Nana, she was certainly doing an excellent job. She sounded just like her grandmother. Though it was hard to consolidate the tall, blonde, bosomy pairing puppet with the little old gray-haired lady she remembered from her childhood.

  “In fairness, I did not realize that the soul of your mother’s mother had somehow come to inhabit the pairing puppet when I asked her to help me, ahem, meet my needs,” the Beast Kindred chimed in. “And she did come with me willingly.”

  “Well, of course I did! Big handsome man like you.” Nana Ruth fluttered her eyelashes at him coquettishly. “And he was really good at it too!”

  “Um, that’s nice to know,” Liv said uncomfortably. But Nana wouldn’t let it drop.

  She leaned closer to Sophie and Liv and whispered loudly,

  “Just between you and me and the wall, girls, your Pop-pop was never much to speak of in bed. He never seemed to care if I was enjoying myself or not. Whereas Barsis, here—well…” She trailed off, nodding expressively. “Let’s just say it was a whole other ball g
ame. In fact, I can’t wait to do it again!”

  “Nana!” Sophie sounded positively scandalized.

  “Well honey, it’s true.” Nana fanned her face with one hand as though just thinking of her late sexual encounter got her overheated. “I mean, the things that man can do with his tongue…”

  “Nana, please,” Liv begged.

  “Oh, sorry, girls.” She sighed. “It’s just, I’ve never felt anything like it. It was amazing.”

  “I still don’t understand how any of this happened,” Sophie said blankly.

  Liv frowned. “I don’t either but do you think it has anything to do with the trams not working and my blood Analyzer thinking it was some guy from Ohio?”

  “Maybe…” Sophie shook her head. “But I don’t see how.”

  “I don’t either.” Liv threw up her hands. “But it certainly does seem to be Nana in there.”

  “Of course, it’s me!” the pairing puppet said indignantly. “I was there at your first-grade play—the one all about the four food groups, remember? You were ‘Cathy Corn’,” she pointed at Liv. “And you were Patty Pork chop.” She pointed at Sophie. “My goodness, your mom and I spent ages making those costumes and you two were just as cute as could be!”

  “Yup, that’s Nana all right,” Sophie murmured.

  “Now that we have established your mother’s mother’s soul truly is in residence within this pairing puppet, I would like your permission to pursue her romantically,” the Beast Kindred Nana had called Barsis cut in.

  “Well…sure, I guess.” Liv shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t see how we can stop her if she’s bound and determined to go on, uh, ‘doing the sex act’ with you.”

  “Now girls, don’t be so prudish!” Nana scolded. “Barsis is a wonderful man and it’s perfectly normal and natural for us to enjoy each other’s bodies. Especially since I seem to have such a nice, new body to enjoy now.”