“No. I can’t. It was too much for me, Adrian. I thought I was going to explode if I didn’t get out of here fast enough. I almost didn’t escape in time. I am not equipped to handle all of that. And that would leave tons of energy to waste. No. There’s no way around this. Believe me, I have been trying to think of one for the past couple of hours. It’s the right thing to do for our people.”
“And what about doing the right thing for Kathryn? Doesn’t anyone but me give a damn about her feelings and her well-being?”
“Um…I think I qualify for that.” Kathryn spoke up softly, raising her hand. “And I think you ought to ask me how I feel about all of this instead of assuming you know better.”
Perhaps it was because she didn’t yell at him for the mistake that it made such a tremendous impact on him. He felt immediately sheepish and it showed in his expression. But it didn’t change facts.
“You don’t understand. Life Beneath is dramatically different from life here or on the Earth plane. There are dangers and rules, and there are things you’ve never seen before. I’m not certain you could handle just how different it is, Kat.”
“I see. Well, thank you for your concern. And thank you for explaining it to me. I’m sure I have very little idea of what I’d be getting myself into. What I do know is that I can count on you to protect me. If nothing else, I know that much. I also know that I can’t let anyone starve, no matter who they are or where they live, if I can in any way help change it.” She hesitated for half a second. “Um…does that mean they want us to—to do it, and everyone will know every time it happens?”
Adrian tried very hard not to smile. She couldn’t possibly know how red she was right then as the truth of the situation occurred to her.
“Lovemaking is one of the most powerful and beneficial energies there is,” he said, reaching out to rub the back of a claw over her burning cheek. “Lovemaking between kind is something far off the charts. Immeasurable. Yes, everyone will know every time it happens. They’ll know because they won’t be weak from lack of energy any longer. They’ll know because children who are too sick to move will suddenly jump up from their beds and play. They’ll know because the elderly will finally be able to relax and live without pain and discomfort.”
“Oh my God. Performance anxiety much?” she said, waving her hand in front of her face.
“No one expects it of you, Kat. They only are grateful when and if it does happen,” Aerlyn said gently. “Don’t be worried. Our people are fed in other ways as well, but this is just the strongest and purest of ways. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. No one would ever make that expectation of you.”
“Good,” she breathed. “I’m glad. That could be really stressful for a gal.” She gave Adrian a sidelong look. “Or for a guy.”
Adrian chuckled at that. “Believe me, sweetheart,” he said, “as long as you’re anywhere near me, lack of performance will not be an issue.”
He had meant to make her blush and it worked famously. She also knew what he was up to, so she elbowed him hard in the ribs.
“You big jerk.”
“Are you sure about this?” Aerlyn fretted over them. She was twisting her hands together again. “You’ve been through so much, Kathryn. And I don’t think you understand just how different our home plane is.”
“Well,” she said with a nervous little chuckle, “I guess I’m about to find out.”
Chapter 13
Kathryn stood on the walkway and gaped openly at what she was seeing. Apparently the people of Beneath did not believe in living on solid ground. Instead the entire village was strung up—suspended, even—between two sides of opposing cliffs. The village was level after level of pointy little buildings and hundreds of walkways without railings. This was particularly insane because they were suspended in midair above the line of fluffy clouds she could see scudding between the cliffs about a half a mile or so beneath her feet.
“Oh yeah,” she gulped, “this is different, all right.”
Adrian had hold of her arm as they walked toward the first level of the village, keeping her steady on the unrailed walkway. The path was just wide enough for two people to walk side by side comfortably, but there was certainly no room for horseplay or running around.
“I lived on this level. The house is still mine and Aerlyn’s. It’s nothing as grand as the castle we just left, but I think you’ll be comfortable there.”
She was barely listening to him, though she knew she should be. She was busy watching everyone on the walkways. Men. Bunches and bunches of men. Not a single woman to be seen anywhere. Except for her. And people were beginning to notice her presence. Heads turned and curious eyes followed as she went, and some of those looks were much more than curious. They were covetous.
And she wasn’t the only one noticing. Adrian was growing very tense beside her, a low sound of warning rumbling out of him now and again when someone’s eyes lingered too long on her. She reached out and covered his hand with hers, squeezing with reassurance. What she wanted right now was to get to this house of his and sit in peace for a little while. She’d barely had time to process her encounter with her family, or how she was feeling about Adrian. Now she was in this vastly different world with all its unspoken dangers and she was starting to get a headache from it all.
“Come on, let’s get you inside.”
Kathryn didn’t know if he was reading her mind or trying to get her away from the eyes of other men. A little bit of both, perhaps. Regardless of his motivations, he had them standing in front of a heavy metal door within minutes. It looked like the kind of door you saw on a bank vault. Adrian reached out and turned the center wheel hard and she could hear bolts retracting. For a frightening minute she was left to consider if the door was meant to keep someone in or what the hell they were trying to keep out.
“Don’t go outside during the hours of sunrise or sunset,” Adrian warned her, again uncannily divining her thoughts, it seemed. “The okriti are on the move during those times and they sometimes come into the village.”
“Okriti?” she asked with a swallow.
“A wild beast that roams the land. They are in great abundance and travel in packs. It’s the main reason why we don’t build on the land. They aren’t afraid of us, and they can do a great deal of damage.”
“Why do they come here?” she asked dumbly.
He shut the door behind them and latched it tightly in the closed position. “Why do you think, Kat? They are looking for food. And the competition for resources is fierce. But that’s okay,” he said with a wolfish smile. “Okriti make good eating for us too. The village is designed to thwart them and as long as you know what to do to avoid trouble, you’ll be safe and sound.”
“So…you eat food too?” she asked. “I thought you fed on energy.”
“We feed on both.” He moved to her side, taking her shoulders warmly in the cupping strength of his hands. “But food only feeds our bodily energy. We need to feed our souls as well. And what happens to the soul inevitably reflects on the body.”
“It sounds terrible…to starve like that.”
“It is terrible. If not for Guardians like me and Aerlyn venturing onto other planes to seek sources of energy, we would long be extinct. Earth plane is by far the richest resource there is. Your people throw away emotions, both good and bad, and think absolutely nothing of it. The sexual energy you expend alone is a crop well worth harvesting.”
“I see. Well, this might sound simplistic, but why don’t you come and live in the Earth plane? You look just like us. I mean, the rest of your people look just like us,” she corrected hastily. “No one would know the difference.”
He held up a finger and then, using a claw from the opposite hand, he cut it across the tip. Instantly a bubble of pink fluorescent blood welled up.
“All it would take was one cut, one accident, and humans would know we were among them. Knowing humans as you do, do you see them accepting us then?”
Kathryn shut her mouth with a snap, only just then realizing she was gaping at him. She slowly shook her head, knowing as well as he did that humans would see them as a threat just because they were different. History had proved time and again that visual differences had always been the cause of terrible and inhuman crimes against others. She would like to think the human race had risen above that, but she wasn’t willing to test that theory any more than Adrian’s people were.
“So, the Guardians…how many are there?”
“Six. Just like there are six Ampliphi. One for each of the major villages we have here. Each Guardian reaps as much energy as they can in their specialty; then they bring it to the Ampliphi, who make it more than what it was and spread it out among the people. But there is a hierarchy of who gets what,” he told her. “Women are among the first. They are the key to our future, and there are so few left. We must take care of them. Next are the leaders of the villages, the men who guard them and keep them safe, and then, lastly, the others—the children and the elders. And often there’s not enough to make it worth their while. This is why the connection of kind is so treasured. The emotional energy put out between kindri and kindra can save a village like this one.”
“Wow. Pressure. A lot of pressure,” she said, laying a hand over her suddenly racing heart.
“No pressure, Kat. You’re doing enough just standing here talking to me. Even the panic you are feeling now will feed souls here. You can really do no wrong. Except for violence.” He frowned and looked down at his own hands. “Violence is like a plague here, and it spreads like wildfire. You have to be careful of that. I have to be careful of that.”
“Thank you for warning me. Luckily, I am more likely to scream and run than I am likely to commit an act of violence. I’m sure I’ve proved that to you by now.” She placed both her hands in his and firmly squeezed. “And don’t worry. I’ll help you keep your temper under control.”
He looked up at her quickly, surprised he had been so easy to read. His mouth turned down into a grim line. “Kat, I am going to tell you something because I think you have a right to know.” He cleared his throat. “I think part of the reason they called us here so quickly is because they want me to…to…”
“Fuck up?” she prompted, lifting one brow.
“Yes. To them I am the monster you first met. The Ampliphi haven’t seen how much I’ve changed. But I’m not sure the exterior changes are enough. The laws about violence or taking a life are very clear here. Because we are a society made up mostly of men, an aggressive sex, they’ve had to be really strict. I could do something that will earn me the death penalty. I may already have.”
Kathryn felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. “What do you mean?”
He suddenly shook his head and turned away from her. “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done.”
“But I thought your life was spared now. Because you proved I really was your kindra.”
“This has nothing to do with that. It’s something else. And please don’t ask me to elaborate. You think me enough of a monster as it is.”
“That’s not true!”
“Isn’t it? Just this morning you called me a monster.”
“No! I-I mean, yes, I did, but I didn’t mean in the physical sense. Oh, I don’t know what I meant!” she burst out in frustration. “I was angry and hurt. This has been a lot for me to take. You have to cut me a little slack here, Adrian.”
“Let’s drop this discussion,” he said softly, his tone sounding so alone and forlorn. It broke her heart to hear it and she cursed herself for the things she had said to him.
“Adrian…” She came up behind him and ran her hands over his big back and broad shoulders, laid her cheek against his spine. “Adrian, a monster doesn’t take a girl to see her family one last time. A monster wouldn’t care about her feelings. He wouldn’t even think twice about it. You were a monster when you first took me, it’s true, but ever since then you’ve come farther and farther away from that and you’ve done nothing but try to make it up to me ever since.”
“Trying to make up to you doesn’t make the original sin right.” He turned beneath her hands and cheek, presenting her with his chest. “I fear that you’ll never forgive me for taking you from Earth. I fear that every new thing you experience here is only going to remind you more and more of what you have lost at my hands.”
“Adrian, no…that’s not entirely true.” She looked up at him and could see in his eyes that he thought it was very true. “Yes, I’ll miss my home. But I will forgive you one day. I can’t possibly hold a grudge against someone forever. It’s just not in my nature. I learn and I adapt to things and make do with what I’ve been given. If I learned anything in my father’s house, I learned that.”
Adrian reached to brush at her hair and face with a massive palm, making her feel small and delicate. The gentler he was, the more it belied his potential for violence. She wondered then if he would one day return to his full normal self or if this transformation might stop at some point. It didn’t matter to her either way, but thinking about what he said about energy feeding their souls made her think he would return to normal eventually. He had been feeding his soul with the corrupting energy of the mirror and the dark emotions of the people within the nightmare plane, and that had corrupted him violently. Now he was no longer using the mirror and was feeding strictly from her energy—his kindra’s energy—and he was changing to reflect that.
She was happy for him. He had made huge sacrifices in the name of feeding his people. He deserved to retire peacefully. And if this village was where it must be done, she would see to it that he made the transition flawlessly.
“Come,” he said softly. “Let me show you your new home.”
Everything was woven. The floors, the roofs, the walls—all of it was woven out of this incredibly hard material that also gave off an ambient light. She imagined the entire village must glow at night. She wondered if that would make it more attractive to the okriti or if it was like building a campfire to keep wolves and wildlife away. Regardless, she felt very safe inside these woven walls with Adrian. He took her up to the next level, a process rather like when you were a kid and walked up a slide in the playground the wrong way. There were no stairs and only the weaving provided traction.
“In the unlikely event the okriti ever made it indoors, they couldn’t climb to the second story, leaving you a haven until help could come,” Adrian explained.
“Good to know,” she said with a loud swallow.
“Don’t worry,” he reassured her. “They only move this way during dawn and dusk, and even then they will be more likely to keep away. And even if they do attack, the entire village is designed to ward them off. First, there are no rails on the walkways for them to hold on to, and the okriti are not known for their excellent balance.”
“So they’ll fall.” She frowned. “So what are the nets for beneath the village? Is it like hunting?”
“The nets are meant to catch children who accidentally fall. Anything heavier than that or anything that struggles hard and it will break away, sending the contents down into the crevasse.”
“Oh my God.” She blanched. “And here I was thinking I would be saved if I fell.”
“I won’t let you fall,” he assured her, bringing her close so he could hug her tightly in reassurance.
“I’ll hold you to that,” she said vehemently.
“The roofs are all cones, the houses are all round, making a steep, slick surface the okriti can’t cling to,” he continued. “And these doors can only be opened by someone strong with the ability to use opposable thumbs. That being said, if all else fails, this village is packed full of warriors who would defend it with their lives. The okriti are easy pickings to them, I assure you.”
“And good eating,” she added in a lame attempt to act comforted by all of this. Still, it sounded as though they had planned for everything. It was well thought out, and with the exception of
those frightening walkways, it seemed very safe.
“Come here,” he said, pulling her into a room.
There was no mistaking it for a bedroom. The central piece of furniture was a rope-supported bed, a very big one that stretched from wall to wall. Although, technically, because they were round, it was all the same wall. Just the same, the bed was made by a form of the same woven material as the house was, although this was flexible whereas the other was not.
“What is this stuff?” she asked, running her fingers over the bed ropes.
“Shanshi. It’s a plant that grows wild all over. It has phosphorescent properties, as you can see, and a mixture of water and salt makes it as hard as steel. The weavers in the village are always busy gathering and weaving and salting the shanshi. The village is always growing so we always have a use for it.”
“You know something, this is a really fascinating place you’ve got here.”
“Thank you,” he said, his eyes roaming slowly down the length of her body. “I think you make it fascinating.”
“Do I?”
Adrian was delighted when she suddenly turned coy, pretending she didn’t notice his regard for her. She was fishing for compliments, desiring them from him, and he desired to give them to her. He knew she had not had the opportunity for appreciation from others. Her father had never acknowledged her as anything but a workhorse, and she dismissed the things her sister said as being the bias of sisterly love.
But the fact was she was beautiful. In every way. He had always thought this room to be plain and utilitarian, but her presence there changed all of that. She was wearing another of the dresses he had gotten her, this one a basic black made of a satin that was anything but basic. The snug bodice and the straps over her arms and shoulders, coupled with the demure business-length skirt, just made him want to take it all off her. It was like a wrapped gift with bow and frills. The outside was nice and all, but it was only the inside that mattered.
Adrian took the step needed to bring him closer to her, reaching out to run his slightly curved nails over her pretty bare skin. When he ran into one of the straps, he hooked it and began to pull it down.
Stealing Kathryn Page 22
