by Ava Walsh
Unfortunately, a cure did not seem possible. “We could screen everyone for the reagents,” Anais told him. “And give them a list of people they should not feed or feed on under any circumstances, but that’s it. Those already infected... they’re lost.” She cried then, inconsolable, and he held her close until she was able to function again. The news broke his heart for the people they were going to lose, but there was nothing to do for them but make their last days as comfortable as possible.
Breaking the news to his father was a task Sebastien took on himself. Baptiste Roche, the Clan King of Louisiana, had woken up several times during the past week and seemed mighty pleased with Kendra. “She’ll keep you on your toes, that one,” he told his son, pride and joy in his voice. “But it’ll just make you love her more.”
Grinning, Sebastien nodded in agreement. He already knew the world would be a bleak place without Kendra in it, and he couldn’t wait to formally make her his Queen. They’d begun the preparations for the Bonding rite, one which would tie their life-forces together and make it so that they aged and grew old at the same pace. Vampire couples didn’t need to bother with that, the longevity of their relationships all but set in stone, but mixed couples chose to undergo it even though it mean the vampire of the pair was looking at a shortened life span. To Sebastien, like many other vampires before him, this did not seem like such a large sacrifice. He wanted to spend his life with Kendra, no matter how long or short – and she felt the same, as evidenced by the fact that all he needed to do to convince her to go through with it with him was tell her what the end result was.
“Don’t worry about me,” Baptiste told Sebastien, when his son told him about the results of his investigation and his sister’s work. “I’ve had a good, long life, I was lucky enough to Bond twice, and I raised a worthy heir to the Clan Throne. I’d be greedy to ask for more.” The only request his father had was to make the Mississippi bastards pay.
And tonight, the main eve of the Grand Gathering, hosted by their own Clan Home, was the perfect night to do it.
Chapter Nine
Kendra sat next to Sebastien, introduced to the representatives of the North American vampire Clans as his Bonded mate and future wife, and watched the final confrontation unravel. As they expected, when Sebastien rose and made their accusations about the Clan King of Mississippi, his maternal uncle, the snide bastard had the gall to claim innocence. It was a good thing they had come well prepared – and with a special gem up their sleeve to reveal only after all other proof was presented.
It was one hell of a process, reminding her more of a courtroom drama than anything else, only more boring. If she had not been deeply invested in the entire ordeal, she would’ve been a little bored. But, things being as they were, she listened and observed intently, both the accused and their audience, who mainly remained on the sidelines, refusing to take anyone’s side until they had heard everything that both parties had to say.
It annoyed her, but she couldn’t blame them – most of their evidence was circumstantial, and Kendra was not sure it would hold up in a human court of law.
But their ace was not something that could be contented – or ignored.
Their ace was a collection of CCTV images, released to them by the police after several days of negotiations and, finally, threats of a lawsuit. They were a little grainy, but in full color, and showed a large red pickup truck stalking and then deliberately hitting the car of one Dr. Keith Duquesne, husband of the Louisiana Clan King’s daughter, and a scientist just a few steps away from discovering the full extent of the Mississippi Clan’s crime.
Two of the photos were particularly interesting because one of them clearly caught the license plate of the truck – and the other the face of the driver.
The truck was registered to the Mississippi Clan King.
The driver was his dhampir nephew.
Upon that reveal, all hell broke loose, and the members of the Mississippi Clan attempted to flee, but the rest of the vampires quickly rounded them up.
As Kendra learned, the vampire justice system could be a little drawn out when it came to presenting evidence, but once they were sure they had convicted the responsible party, the punishment came quickly and brutally.
The final decision was unanimous - the Mississippi Clan was no more. The scheming Clan King and all those suspected of involvement in his revenge plans were executed. The remaining Clan members were to be absorbed into other, bigger clans, to live their lives in peace and free of persecution.
It was not something Kendra wished to see happen again. She knew the wrongdoers had to be punished, but this was a little too much for her to take all at once. Sebastien seemed to understand, and put no pressure on her whatsoever, giving her his quiet presence and support to lean on.
She had to admit, it was a good feeling. Kendra was proud of her strength, but it was nice to know she didn’t have to be strong all the time anymore. She had someone she could rest with and know she would be safe and loved, no matter how strange the way that love came to be was.
With Sebastien at her side, she knew she could survive anything and come out a winner.
Epilogue
Three weeks later, she stood barefoot and dressed in red in the center of the Clan Home back lawn with Sebastien, also barefoot but dressed in dark green, facing each other as they waited for the Clan Priestess to perform the Bonding rite. The elder vampire woman, in elaborate formal robes, suddenly looked at Kendra and proclaimed with a huge smile on her wrinkled face, “You’re pregnant.”
Shocked by the statement, Kendra looked at Sebastien, who seemed just as confused as she was, and then back to the Priestess.
“I beg your pardon?” she asked, and the woman laughed.
“You’re pregnant, child! I can smell the change on you!” The Priestess confirmed her diagnosis, much to the loud joy of everyone present.
Kendra looked at the man who, by the end of this night, would be her husband. He was the only person other than herself who wasn’t cheering, but the smile on his face spoke more of how happy the news made him than all the noise everyone else was making.
“Is she for real?” she asked him, skeptical, and wondering if she’d be criticized for it, but Sebastien just laughed.
“She’s for real,” he confirmed, nodding. “She’s trained to sense such subtle changes. No one else could’ve possibly caught it, not until way longer into the pregnancy.”
Still a little dazed by the revelation, Kendra looked down to her stomach... and then back to the Priestess because a terrifying thought crossed her mind. “The baby... the rite, will it harm it?” she asked, almost frantic, remembering too many stories in which mixing magic and pregnancy resulted in tragedy, but the old woman just smiled and patter her shoulder.
“Don’t worry,” she assured Kendra. “It might be uncomfortable for you, but the baby will be just fine. It’s too small for the rite to affect it. It’s just a cluster of cells waiting to grow into a son or daughter.”
That calmed her well enough, but she still felt an enormous amount of excitement and anxiety mixed together.
A baby.
She was going to have a baby.
She was getting married, doing strange and inexplicable things to her body to make her life as long as her vampire husband’s was, and she was going to have their baby.
If someone had told her all this a month ago, she would’ve had them committed in less than an hour.
Yet it had all happened, and was no less real than the life she was about to leave behind.
Sebastien took her hands in his and smiled that special, warm smiled reserved just for her.
“Ready?” he asked, and Kendra felt her heart overflow with love and hope for the future that lay ahead.
She smiled back and entwined her fingers with his.
“Ready.”
*****
THE END
Bonus Book 7: Sold to the Barbarian
By: Abella Ward
> Description
What is this massive brute going to do with me?
Zon is a ruthless savage, killing for sport. He knows she is his mate from the moment their eyes meet. So it’s only natural that he buys her. He’s in his “musth”, a time when hormones run rampant. If he doesn’t mate right away, he becomes... unpredictable.
One moment Lisa is working late at the lab and the next the curvaceous scientist is in a vessel going at light speed. And the next? That’s when she’s sold on the auction block to a powerful alien warlord with a penchant for violence.
Is she his slave, his pet or his next meal? Either way, she’s finding herself inexplicably drawn to him.
But danger looms. Another alien wants Lisa for himself and will stop at nothing to get her. When the seemingly cold-hearted warrior jumps to her defense, her attraction to him only intensifies, although she tells herself it’s only sexual.
As the danger swells and her feelings deepen, Lisa finds herself torn between her desire for the fearless warrior and her longing for Earth. When her attackers return, she can only hope Zon will save her again.
And in the midst of the action, another little surprise announces itself and Lisa has to ask herself: is cross species breeding really impossible?
Chapter One
Nothing in the sea of colorful faces was familiar. Lisa trembled inside the cage, wrists bound and chained to the floor, forcing her to her knees. A collar was clasped around her neck, almost choking her. A weird vibration came from it, silencing her voice every time she tried to speak. Around her, the blue-green bars of energy that made up her cage buzzed and crackled. Small drones flew around her, red lasers scanning her body from every angle.
Lisa could see herself projected on the large holographic screen behind the auctioneer. Her face burned with humiliation as close-ups of her breasts and private parts were shown. There were a few catcalls from the crowd, which made her stomach churn.
"Gentlemen, please remain quiet." The auctioneer, a pale green-skinned female with a pair of bat-like wings sprouting from her shoulders, rapped her knuckles against the podium she stood at, causing the crowd to fall silent again.
The drones surrounding her moved to the energy cage beside hers, circling the hairy creature that was in it. What it was, she had no idea. Although the silently snarling mouth looked vaguely bear-like, it was only about the size of a Pomeranian. The implications of it being right next to her were clear as day, though.
She was being sold. Like an animal. That was all Lisa understood about the situation she was in. She had watched several creatures be sold already and knew her turn was coming up.
Aliens don't even exist, she thought numbly, tugging against her chains. As she did so, a sharp jolt went through her. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. Her heart rate spiked as a creature that looked like a human toad peered in at her, licking its lidless eyes. She stared back, shrinking away from it. That seemed to amuse it and it licked its eyes faster.
How had she even got here? She remembered working late at the lab–she’d known that if she didn't get results from her research into how the newly-discovered geo-nuclear radiation from deep inside the Earth's core would change the human DNA sequence, her grants would dry up. There had been a rumbling sound, and the next thing she knew, she was being lifted out of a box, freezing cold and naked, by aliens, green and winged like the auctioneer. They had poked and prodded her, stuck her with needles, then snapped on these cuffs and the collar and shoved her into this cage.
"Next is this specimen from an undiscovered species," the auctioneer said, and the drones surrounded Lisa again. "Found in a primitive vessel going at light speed. Female. Genetic tests have indicated that it has a possible universal DNA, making it likely compatible with most species, and has a high level of intelligence. A translation chip has been installed, and it has received all inoculations necessary for either companionship or consumption."
Lisa's stomach jerked. Companionship or consumption? She yanked against her chains again, shaking her head wildly. Did that mean that whoever bought her was going to turn her into a sex slave or eat her? The shock from her struggling against her chains kept getting worse, making white splotches dance in front of her eyes.
"Bidding is in hadron particles only. Who will start the bidding at three quarks?"
Hadron particles. Quarks. Lisa stopped struggling. Those were familiar terms. Her area of scientific research was based more in genetics, but her brother was an astrophysicist and engineer working with NASA on more effective means of space transportation. He always said that he was going to figure out how to stop the temporal distortion that would theoretically happen if they ever did get a vessel going at light speed. He’d vowed to have his first paper on the subject written by her thirtieth birthday.
Next year, she thought. Happy birthday to me.
Except how long had it been since she was taken from Earth? She was vaguely aware that she had been kept in cryostatus. It could have been months, even years since she was abducted, and she wouldn't know until she returned to Earth. She hunched over, ignoring the bidding that had started, and ran her fingers over the collar that bound her throat. Finally, she found a small latch and began yanking on it.
"Look at that, gentlemen! Didn't I say it was intelligent? It would make an excellent pet."
Lisa glanced up to see that her efforts to escape were being shown on the screen. The auctioneer was beaming. There were a few more bids from the crowd, who were growing louder as they pressed forward.
What would Tom do without her? Her brother was smart, and he had his wife and daughter with him now to make sure he ate during his intensive study periods, but for years it had only been her and him together as they moved from foster family to foster family. He hadn't taken the death of their parents well… how would he take her disappearance?
Her fingers pressed into a slight depression at the latch and the collar dropped off. Lisa gulped in a deep breath and turned her attention to the shackles.
"Ten," somebody said.
"Fifteen."
"A hundred!"
Lisa ignored the bidding. None of it meant anything to her. For all she knew, she could be getting sold for ten cents or a billion dollars. It didn't matter, anyway. She wasn't going to stay here to be auctioned off and eaten or… Bile rose in her throat, but she choked it down, yelping as the chains shocked her again. She tried pulling at the base of them, tried manipulating her hands so she could feel the cuffs. There was a slight depression right between her wrists where she couldn't reach, and she stuck her nose in it.
The resulting shock threw her back, making her scream. She collided with the energy barriers. The smell of scorched flesh and hair filled the air and she collapsed, an electric shock rocking throughout her body. She struggled to draw in breath, stars blinding her. She was aware of laughter. Her head spun and she knew she was about to pass out.
She wasn't sure what made her look up. Maybe it was desperation, hoping to find a sympathetic face in this alien crowd. Maybe she was just hoping that it was all a dream and she would look up to find herself in her lab.
What she found were distant black eyes.
At the back of the crowd stood a man–at least, she thought it was a man, given that he was bare-chested and didn't have obviously enlarged breasts. He was one of the tallest beings there, towering over those around him. His skin was devil-red, hair as black as coal with eyes just as dark. He was huge, muscles everywhere, making him wide, with a powerful body. He could easily crush Mr. July in the firefighter calendar she had back home. Dark tattoos ran down one arm and across his chest in spiked swirls.
"Bid is at two hundred," the auctioneer called. "Do I hear two twenty?"
Lisa tore her eyes away from the red-skinned man to glance at those nearest her cage. The toad was licking its eyes more fervently, a yellow flush in its cheeks as it rubbed its slimy hands together, eyeing her up and down. She may not have been paying attention to wh
at was going on with the bidding, but she knew that this creature was the one with the winning bid. He moved closer.
"Two twenty? Two ten?" The auctioneer scanned the crowd. "Two five–two five!"
"Three hundred!" the toad called, his voice croaking just as Lisa had imagined it would. She shuddered, her mouth going dry.
Desperately she looked up again, searching the crowd. The red-skinned man wasn't there anymore and Lisa felt a wave of disappointment and despair crash on her. She didn't know why she expected him to outbid this toad, to rescue her from it. All she knew was that there were no more bids forthcoming, and the auctioneer was about to declare her sold. Whatever the toad planned for her…
The toad scrambled onto the stage as the auctioneer called out for the final bid. Sharp teeth were exposed in a smile and Lisa shrank back.
"My, my, you look like a tasty pet," the toad whispered to her.
Lisa's stomach clenched. She kicked out, foot slipping through the energy bars. It collided with the toad's face. He felt backward, and a blade impaled his chest.
There were gasps from the crowd and the auctioneer went silent. The red-skinned man was standing by the stage now, clutching the toad's shoulder as he pushed a sword through the creature's chest. A twisted, disgusted expression was on his face. The toad squealed in a high-pitched noise.
The devil twisted his blade sharply. The toad went limp. It fell to the ground as the devil withdrew his weapon. Calmly, he climbed onto the stage and neatly sliced through the top of the cage. The bars of energy died, and he reached in, lifting Lisa out. He cut the chain connecting her to the stage with one swing of his sword and threw her over his shoulder. She was in too much shock to fight against him, though she knew she should.
