Kristar (Bookstrand Publishing Romance)

by D Renee Bagby

  Silny loved the man, but knew him to be a cruel bastard when it suited him. She couldn’t think of what he gained by making her suffer this current torment.

  With a resigned sigh, she twirled her hand in the air. The orb Kitty had used to transport to Silny bounced up and placed itself at eye level. Silny tapped the orb. “Go to him.”

  It disappeared. A second later Silny heard Chigaru bellow her name. She sighed again and then pushed her presence into the orb. “Yes, Hell Hound, she is here. Before you ask or say anything, I wish to know why.”

  Chigaru growled a moment then said, “Serenity requested to spend the night in my bed.”

  Silny stared at him, debating if she should take pity on Kitty or laugh. She did neither. “Then that explains the other.”

  “What other? Do you know who inhabits Kitty?”

  “I do.”

  “Who?” Chigaru yelled.

  “That is a long story I’m in no mood to tell. Know she will not hurt Kitty or do anything that would cause Kitty harm. She will, however, surface and take actions if she perceives you mean to hurt Kitty.”

  “I would never hurt my mate.”

  “And yet you did already or else the other wouldn’t have appeared. Trent and I shall keep your mate company until she is ready to return to you.”

  “Give her to me now.”

  “I cannot. The other will bring her back here if we force Kitty’s return. It has to be Kitty’s choice. I do not want her here, Hell Hound. If I knew then what I know now, I would have never approached you to retrieve her. This situation is trying to me, more so than you’ll ever know. As my husband has said to me many times over the last few days, this is a hell of my own creation and I must suffer with it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Good-bye, Hell Hound.”

  “You cannot keep me from my mate.”

  “And you cannot come for her without starting a war. It wouldn’t be the first time her actions caused such an event, though I would like to avoid it if possible. Let Kitty calm down. She will return to you when she’s ready.”

  Chigaru’s features relaxed as his expression became solemn. “At the very least, allow me to speak with her.”

  “She is sleeping now. I have returned the orb to you so you can communicate when she is ready. Until then, I bid you good evening.” Silny removed her presence from the orb before Chigaru could say more. She was tired of the conversation and knew her exhaustion wouldn’t abate anytime in the foreseeable future.

  “I should have remained content in my ignorance.”

  “Yes, you should have,” Trent said from the doorway.

  She faced his smug expression. “Why do you delight in tormenting me?”

  “I warned you then and you didn’t listen, my love. This is my way of saying I told you so. I won’t let you avoid it. In fact, avoiding it proved futile as I told you it would so long ago. You will have to own up to your part in this madness sooner or later.”

  “There is no need. It is an old wound that is healing.”

  “Is healing. That means it hasn’t healed yet. It never will so long as you hold back the one bit of knowledge that could lay it all to rest. Kitty’s situation would be solved if you simply told her the situation and how it came about.”

  “No.”

  Trent shrugged. “Then deal with the repercussions of your decision and know you cause your pain.” He crossed the room to her side, put his hand under her chin, and pulled so she lowered her gaze to his. “If war starts between the vampires and bhresyas, King Ganon will know you are the cause and he will hold you solely responsible. I will not protect you from his punishment.”

  She searched his gaze, not believing his words. “Trent?” Her voice was small and frightened as she said his name.

  He released her. “You are no longer that girl, Silny. Do not play her part now because you fear revealing the past and the suffering you caused.”

  “I didn’t. She—”

  “Yes. Yes. She. She. You will never say her name, will you? You wrap yourself in the knowledge you did nothing wrong and yet we both know that’s not true. She started the war, but you caused it. Own up to that and everything else will be solved.” He laughed softly as he shook his head. “Funny that you both tried to run from your pasts only to drag each other right back. Karma really is a bitch.”

  He left the room again. Silny stared after him, unable to speak and yet wanting to rage and scream at the unfairness of it all. She’d passed the time when she could claim none of it had been her fault. She was older and wiser and knew better. Now that her memories had returned, she could look at her past with clearer eyes and see the role she’d played. Though she admitted to her part, she did so only to herself. Revealing her shame to others…

  She shuddered at the thought and steeled herself against the possibility.

  Which was worse? Baring the past and her pain to others or standing back to watch it happen all over again?

  * * * *

  Something warm and wet was caressing Kitty’s toes. She kicked out at the thing to get it to stop. When her foot contacted fur, she sat up while pulling her feet close. The quick motion made her head throb, but she ignored the pain to figure out what she had hit.

  A large dog sat at the foot of the bed. It stared at her with its tongue lolling out of its mouth.

  “Ah, you’re awake at last.”

  Kitty turned to Trent. She blinked a few times, but he didn’t disappear. With a groan, she fell against the bed. “Not again.”

  “I think you must love me to visit me so often.”

  “In your dreams. And aren’t you married to Silny?”

  “We’re going through a rough patch in our relationship. It happens. I’ve decided to play the field in the interim. Care to join me since you are going through the same? We can comfort each other.”

  “I am not going through a rough patch.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  Kitty sat up. “I have no clue. I was arguing with Chigaru about…” She stopped and clenched her teeth at the memory. “I was arguing with Chigaru and then I was talking to Silny. What’s happening to me?”

  Trent sat on the bed. The large dog came around to his side and he patted the large beast. “I cannot tell you since it isn’t my story to tell. Silny could tell you but she’s being a stubborn little brat at the moment.”

  “So this has something to do with Silny?”

  “And you.”

  “Me? I just got here. How could this have anything to do with me?”

  Trent grinned at her. “You’ve asked the million dollar question. Convince Silny and you’ll get the answer.” He moved closer to her and tapped her nose. “Or you could call on your power to give you the answers.”

  She shook her head as she pushed his finger away. “I can’t answer my own questions. Someone else has to ask.”

  “Such a troublesome power. All the knowledge of the universe open to you and yet you cannot use it for yourself. But that does make a wonderful failsafe.”

  “Besides, I don’t like using my power.”

  “I don’t blame you. I’ve known a few oracles. They led miserable existences.”

  Kitty stared at him with wide eyes. “You knew…there were oracles on your version of Earth?”

  “Indeed. Several. Magic on my Earth is not as sporadic as it seems to be on yours. Oracles are still a highly sought-after commodity, but there were no less than thirty when I left my Earth.”

  “Thirty? Besides me, there were only six others where I’m from. I was supposed to start my training with the American oracle after college. I ran away instead.”

  “You were lucky to have such freedom.”

  “Lucky? Freedom?”

  He nodded. “Yes, freedom. On my Earth, potential oracles are taken from their families at birth to be raised in the temple that paid the most for them.”

  “Temple? Like a cult?”

  “Like a god. Oracles belong t
o the gods, usually as concubines.”

  “Why concubines? Our powers work through dance.”

  “Yes and through repeated intimate contact a god can control an oracle from afar, giving them access to the oracle’s powers whenever they need it. How do you think gods gain their omniscience? Zeus, Odin, Ra, and several others all have oracles. On my Earth, you would have been raised in the ways of dance as well as pleasures of the flesh so you could properly serve the god who won you.” He tsked as he shook his head. “Miserable existence. To be used for knowledge and pleasure until the day you lose the power then cast aside as though you are nothing.”

  “Lose the power? Oracles don’t lose their powers.”

  “The powers of an oracle are finite. You cannot be privy to all the answers of the universe forever. Prolonged exposure would kill you. Most oracles I’ve known lost their powers after thirty years of constant use. One oracle is recorded as having kept her powers for fifty years. After being cast out of the god’s service and bed, most are forced to train those who would succeed them.”

  “Constant use.” Kitty couldn’t imagine giving up her body for thirty years to the thing that took over whenever she invoked her powers. She hugged her arms then startled when Trent rubbed her shoulder.

  “Be happy you were born on your Earth and not mine. There would have been no running away. Once you belong to a god, you are theirs until death. And because they use oracles, they would have found you no matter where you ran, if you did manage to escape.”

  “So the gods really exist?”

  “A few. Most lost their powers in the preternatural-human war. A few managed to escape and are now tolerated so long as they do not seek to rule ever again.”

  “Gods can lose their powers too?” This was a day of revelations.

  “Never underestimate humans when they are scared and angry. As a vampire, I can kill a human with barely a flick of my wrist and yet the humans slaughtered scores of my kind during the war like turkeys at Thanksgiving. But that was a few millennia ago. Preternaturals and humans have learned to coexist since.”

  “Not on my world. The preternaturals play human so they don’t draw attention to themselves. My boss knows about my powers but that’s because he’s a dragon descendant. Only I and maybe one other, his right-hand guy Ramon, know what he is.”

  “Your Earth has dragons? Nice.”

  “Yours doesn’t?”

  “Only the fairytales of them.”

  “That’s weird.”

  “Is it? You said your world doesn’t have vampires or shifters. To me, that’s weird.”

  Kitty had learned about all the preternatural species that existed as part of her oracle training. She shook her head. “No, they don’t. You all are movie magic.”

  “What about therianthropes?” He patted the head of the dog. “Or as the humans like to call this breed, werewolves.”

  “Not those either. That’s a werewolf?”

  “Yes, with a foot fetish.”

  “Oh ew.” Kitty rubbed her foot against the bed to get rid of the memory of the dog licking her toes.

  Trent laughed. “It would seem our two worlds are very different though they are both called Earth.”

  “I wonder how many other alternate realities there are out there and what they’re like.”

  “Anything to keep from thinking about your current troubles, right?”

  Kitty sighed. The conversation provided a nice distraction but avoiding her problem wouldn’t solve it.

  Trent pushed the werewolf away and turned to her. “Come. Let me check the progress of the flesh. It seems to have spread since this morning. Off with the top.”

  She unlaced the top and shrugged out of it. Her motions brought her left hand to her attention. It had turned orange like the rest of her arm. How much more of her would change?

  “Did I mention you have beautiful breasts?”

  She pointed to her face. “Eyes up here, vampire, or I’ll tell Silny on you.”

  “Oh, I’m so scared.” He cupped his hands and aimed them at her chest. As Kitty started to pull away, he changed direction and placed his hands on her shoulders. “It’s slowed more since last I checked.”

  Kitty held up her left arm. “You call this slow? My entire arm turned orange in one day.”

  “Superficial. The internal changes have slowed to a crawl.”

  She touched her stomach and she swallowed before she asked, “It…this flesh thing won’t keep from getting pregnant, will it?”

  Trent eased her hands aside and placed his palm flat against her belly. “You are not pregnant, to answer the question you didn’t ask. And the flesh has not touched your womb. It doesn’t seem headed that way either.” He dipped his fingers lower.

  “Yo! Watch it!”

  He grinned at her and pulled away. “Just checking. Your lower body is still human, which is a pity. Silny can be a wildcat in bed. Bhresya sensitivity is an amazing thing. You would have enjoyed it.”

  “I’m good the way I am and Chigaru has no complaints.”

  “Except that you aren’t in his bed at the moment.”

  “That’s…” She trailed off with an annoyed sigh. “He wants Serenity in his bed.”

  “Does he?” Silny asked as she entered the room. “It sounded to me like he wanted you, if all his yelling and growling was any indication.”

  Kitty stiffened. “He talked to you.”

  Silny nodded. “He did. He wants you back.”

  “What about Serenity?”

  “I didn’t ask.” Silny held out the orb she carried. “Contact him, if you wish to know.”

  Except Kitty didn’t want to know. She didn’t want Chigaru to tell her how he and Serenity sleeping together in the past justified continuing the practice.

  “Avoiding it will not solve the problem.”

  Trent snorted. “You’re one to talk.”

  Silny snapped, “Hush.”

  Kitty didn’t know what they were arguing about and didn’t ask. She stared at the orb. She and Chigaru kept going around in circles. When Kitty thought he belonged to her, Serenity proved her wrong. “We both need a night to cool down.”

  Silny lowered the orb to her side. “As you wish. Know the longer you prolong it, the harder it will be.”

  Trent said, “Again. You’re one to talk.”

  Silny glared at him before leaving the room.

  Kitty asked, “What’s that about?”

  “Ask her. She owes you an explanation more than anyone else.”

  “About?”

  Trent stood. “Not my place to say, though I know it very well. While you’re here, get her to talk to you. It will solve your problems and hers if she does.” He nodded to her and left with the werewolf walking out beside him.

  Kitty got off the bed and closed the door then walked to the vanity across the room. She stripped and stared at her reflection. The orange skin covered the left side of her torso, front and back, and trailed down over her hip to taper off at mid-thigh. It covered her entire left arm and had started creeping up her neck. She thought she almost saw it moving.

  Would it go to her hair? How many times would she wake up and not recognize the woman in the mirror?

  She looked at the bed. How many times would she wake up in this bed instead of her own? Her arms ached to hold Chigaru. She would return to him in a second if she thought he felt the same. If he did miss her, Serenity would always be an issue for them.

  Kitty returned to the bed, cocooned herself in the covers, and tried to block out reality so she could sleep. She needed rest so she could think straight. Things would look clearer in the morning. And hopefully, she wouldn’t have changed again.

  Chapter Eleven

  Her reflection hadn’t changed from last night. Kitty smiled at the mirror. Trent had said the flesh had slowed. Maybe it had finished.

  “You look happy.”

  Kitty met Trent’s gaze in the mirror. “I am. The flesh stopped. Everything is—” S
he stopped talking before she could finish her sentence.

  “Everything is what?”

  She tried again. “Everything is—” Once more she couldn’t finish her sentence.

  “Kitty?”

  “I’m trying to say everything is—” She clutched her throat when the words refused to come. “What’s wrong with me?”

  Trent trotted forward and put his hand against his neck. He grinned with a nod. “As I thought.”

  “What?”

  “The flesh did stop, but it made one last change.”

  “What already? Stop teasing me.”

  “You have a bhresya throat now. All passing your lips will be truth or else you cannot say it.”

  Kitty wanted to yell bullshit but she couldn’t get the word out. It started in her brain and stalled before it got to her mouth. No amount of forcing would make her mouth form it. She wanted to scream her denials but the truth wouldn’t let her. She said instead, “I don’t want this.”

  “I’m sure you don’t.” He nudged her toward the door. “Off to Silny with you. Down the stairs, across the foyer, and down the other flight of stairs to her workshop in the basement.”

  Kitty sprinted the entire way. The bhresya muscles in her legs made her faster than she’d ever been. Silny gasped when Kitty burst into the workshop. “Help me!”

  “What has happened?”

  “I can’t lie. The flesh changed me again.”

  Silny beckoned Kitty forward and then put her hand on Kitty’s throat. “You are correct. You now have a bhresya throat.”

  Kitty knocked Silny’s hand away. “Trent told me already. Fix it.”

  “In my opinion, you are fixed, Kristar. You should be proud to have such a gift.”

  “Proud? Gift? You…you…” She growled and shook her head. “My ability to choose has been taken away. Not being able to lie is nothing to be proud of. That’s like being proud of having eyes and fingers. You did nothing to accomplish it except being born. Having the ability to lie but choosing to tell the truth is something to be proud of. In my opinion, you’re lacking. Now give it back.”