“That’s what happened to Remy—he was riding one over a canyon by our house and it dumped him,” she said in a low voice. “He fell…” She shook her head. “I don’t know how far he fell, but it was a long way down. My Mother says he’s hanging on—but just barely. He needs some new organs—a liver, a kidney and his right leg. Maybe his heart too. They can get them but—”
“But vat-grown organic body parts cost their weight in gold,” Vrox finished for her.
“Yes.” Her voice was almost a whisper. “They do. And until I can get the inheritance my aunt left me, I can’t afford to buy them. And Remy…he could die.” Her eyes overflowed at this point and she turned away from him, clearly not wanting him to see her weakness or let him watch her cry.
Despite the situation he found himself in, Vrox felt his heart go out to her. Now he understood the look of desperation in her big brown eyes. But still—she could be lying. Maybe she was just a really good actress. He’d been a fool for a female once before and the experience had left him with a broken heart but also older and wiser. He didn’t intend to repeat the experience, he told himself.
“That’s a really sad story, little girl,” he remarked, frowning at her when she finally got hold of herself and turned around again. “But I’m still not prepared to be fucked in the ass just to save some stranger’s life.”
“What?” She glared at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Exactly what I said.” Vrox glared back at her. “I know how Yonnites treat males—how they take them like females with a shaft in their ass. I’m not interested in that—or in being shocked over and over by your damn pain collar and cuffs just so you can prove to those other females who were with you today that you’ve broken me and I’m your good little slave.”
“But I don’t want to give you the rod,” she protested. “Didn’t you hear anything I just said? I come from a family where males are treated equally—I’m going to free every male in this place if I can just get the inheritance. And I’ll free you too and give you a hundred thousand credits if you just play along—is that really so hard?”
“It is if you’re going to fuck me in front of your friends,” Vrox said stubbornly. “I’ll put up with a lot for a hundred thousand credits but that’s a hard limit. Can you promise you’re not going to do that to me?”
“I…” She bit her lip and a look of uncertainty passed over her lovely features. “I can’t promise that,” she admitted at last. “Sometimes…sometimes giving a slave the rod is part of the Test of Mastery.”
“Then it’s no fucking deal,” Vrox growled at her. Then he suddenly had an idea. She would never go for it but it couldn’t hurt to try. “Unless…”
“Unless what? What?” she demanded eagerly.
“Unless we have a quid pro quo arrangement,” Vrox told her. “Whatever you do to me in order to ‘train’ me during the day, I get to do back to you, here at night.” There—that should keep her from wanting to fuck him with her damn rod, he thought with some satisfaction.
“What?” Her creamy brown face went suddenly pale. “Are you crazy? You want me to let you put your hands on me? You think I’m going to put myself in your power and let you do…do whatever you want to me?”
“I didn’t ask to do whatever I wanted to you—I asked to do to you exactly whatever it is you’re going to do to me.” Vrox couldn’t help letting his gaze linger on her full breasts and the tiny gold triangle of fabric that covered her plump little pussy as he spoke. These Yonnites had a bizarre fashion sense that seemed to involve showing as much flesh as possible.
Just thinking of touching her curvy little body had his shaft rock-hard under the damn loincloth the slaver had put him in, but he wanted to be certain he was treated with the same respect he intended to show to her.
“Well?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “Tit for fucking tat—you can’t get a fairer deal than the one I’m offering you.”
“I thought I was offering you a deal,” she said faintly, still apparently at a loss.
Vrox shrugged. “You did—I just changed it up a little. This way I can be sure you won’t do anything to me you don’t want done to you.”
“But…you’re so big,” she protested, her eyes growing wide. “And the things you said to me…they didn’t exactly make me want to trust you.”
Vrox sighed. “Yeah, I know that, little girl. I was trying to scare you off buying me. If some other idiot had come along and paid my price, it would have been a hell of a lot easier to get away. Not many people have keeping slaves that want to escape down to a science like you fucking Yonnites do.”
“All right…” She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips and Vrox got the idea she was actually considering his offer. “Wait here for a minute,” she said and turned to go.
“What else am I gonna fucking do?” Vrox called to her retreating back. “You’ve got me in a fucking force field!”
She didn’t pay any attention and she only left the room for a moment. When she returned, she was holding a small white device that looked like some kind of an oversized clothes-clip.
“What’s that?” Vrox asked suspiciously as he watched her approach the edge of the force field and do something to the controls.
“A T’losian Truth Detector,” she said shortly. “I’ve made a hole in the force field just big enough for you to put your hand through.” She indicated a small, circular opening in the shimmering field that surrounded him. “Go on—put it through. The detector clips to your finger and lets me know if you’re telling the truth…or a lie. I want to talk to you before we agree to this.”
So she was actually considering his deal! Vrox was surprised—she must really love her little brother. But he was still somewhat suspicious.
“How do I know it works?” he asked, frowning and crossing his arms over his chest. “Let me see it in action.”
“Fine.” The little Mistress clipped the white truth detector over the end of her middle finger. “My full name is Tandace Elisarah Sweetbottom,” she said in a low, even voice. Immediately, the Truth telling device gave a little beep and lit up brilliant green.
Vrox couldn’t help himself—he could feel the stern look he was trying to keep on his features cracking into a smile.
“Sweetbottom? Your surname is Sweetbottom?” he demanded incredulously. Honestly, these fucking Yonnites had the weirdest fucking names!
“The Truth detector is lighting up green, isn’t it?” she asked evenly. “And I can’t help it—it’s a family name.”
“It fits you,” Vrox informed her. “You’ve got a fucking sweet ass on you, little girl. I’ve always loved a female with a heart-shaped ass.”
Tandy put a hand on one lush, curvy hip.
“It’s remarks like that which make me not want to trust you, Kindred!”
“Sorry.” He shrugged. “It’s just—I’ve never seen a female like you before. Your skin color is fucking gorgeous—and you’re not exactly trying to hide it with that little outfit you’ve got on.” He nodded at her split skirt and the bustier which barely covered her nipples and left the rest of her breasts bare.
Her warm brown cheeks took on a pinkish hue but she lifted her chin and tossed her long, curly hair defiantly.
“This is the way Mistresses of Yonnie Six dress—we revel in our beauty. I didn’t put this on to tempt you, so kindly keep a civil tongue in your mouth, slave.”
“When we’re alone together you can call me Vrox or Kindred but I’m not your fucking slave,” Vrox growled, losing his good humor. “Just because some scum of a slaver spiked my drink and captured me and my friend to sell at the fucking Flesh Bazaar and you bought me doesn’t mean I’m your slave. Prisoner, yes—captive, yes. But I will get free one way or another, little girl—you can count on that.”
“Fine, Kindred,” she snapped. “Then let’s get on with it.”
“Fine by me, little girl.” He gave her an appraising look. “And it doesn’t matter that you didn’t put o
n that little outfit for me—you still look damn fine in it.”
“Please stop examining my body!” Tandy exclaimed, her cheeks growing flushed again.
“Why should I?” Vrox growled. “You’ve been examining mine from the minute you first laid eyes on me—you even fucking looked at my shaft!” He narrowed his eyes at her and let his voice drop to a lower register. “And tell the truth, little girl—you liked what you saw.”
“I did not!” she protested hotly. There was a flat beeping sound from the Truth Detector, which was still clipped to her middle finger, and it suddenly lit up crimson red. “Oh!” Tandy gasped and pulled it off her finger quickly, her eyes widening in shame.
“Well—I guess now we know what it looks like when you tell a lie,” Vrox said dryly. He stuck his hand through the hole in the force field. “Go ahead—put it on me and ask whatever you want, little girl.”
“You have to stop calling me that!” Tandy was still blushing furiously as she clipped the Truth Detector device to his middle finger. “You can call me by my first name—Tandy—when we’re alone, but when we’re being watched by anyone else, you must call me Mistress.”
“We’ll see,” Vrox said neutrally. He kind of liked the nickname he’d given the curvy little female—and he liked the way it seemed to get under her skin when he teased her with it. “Well—go on, ask,” he added, looking down at his hand and the device clipped to the end of his finger. It didn’t hurt at all, though it was a much tighter fit on his own large digit than it had been on her dainty one.
Tandy took a deep breath.
“Are you really part Tenebrian demon?” she asked, frowning at him.
“No,” Vrox said flatly. “I only said that to keep you from wanting to buy me.” He sighed. “And then you went and bought me anyway.”
The Truth device on his finger chirruped cheerfully and lit up bright green. Well, so far, so good, he thought.
Tandy seemed to think the same thing because she nodded thoughtfully.
“Is it true that Kindred won’t hurt females?” she asked.
Vrox frowned. “As a general rule, yes. We worship the Goddess—the Mother of All Life—and we believe that every female has a little piece of her inside. A kind of…spark of divinity, if that makes any sense. So harming a female would be like harming the Goddess herself—if she could be harmed by the likes of us,” he added.
Once again, the Truth device went green.
Tandy nodded again. “So…harming females is actually against your religion?” she asked.
“More like it’s against our DNA,” Vrox told her. “It’s hardwired into us to revere and protect females. Of course,” he added darkly. “We’re not usually put into the position of having to protect ourselves from females. It goes against every instinct in me but I’ll do whatever it takes to get out of here.”
The device lit up green and he wondered why he had added that last part. He was, after all, trying to get free and making her trust him would be easier if he hadn’t spoken his mind. But he was a straightforward male and hated lying. He just wanted to be completely honest with her and get all the cards on the table in this twisted little game they were playing.
Tandy nodded again, thoughtfully.
“Fair enough. So have you, personally, ever hurt a female?” she asked, arching an eyebrow at Vrox.
“Emotionally or physically?” he shot back. “You have to be specific, little girl.”
“Emotionally?” Tandy looked surprised—clearly he’d caught her off-guard.
“Yeah, emotionally.” Vrox gave a growling sigh. “And the answer to that is yes—I hurt her. But she fucking hurt me plenty too. I think it’s what you call a ‘toxic’ relationship—we hurt each other but we couldn’t seem to leave each other alone. I couldn’t bond her to me and without a bond, it’s nearly impossible to have kids, which she wanted, so…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Fucking mess,” he muttered, sorry he’d brought it up in the first place.
The device was lighting up green through all of this but Tandy still looked confused.
“You couldn’t ‘bond’ her to you? What does that mean?” she asked, frowning.
“Kindred—most Kindred anyway—can form a soul-bond with the female they love and want to be with forever,” Vrox explained. “But I’m a hybrid and we don’t bond easy—or at all, most times. It’s something to do with having the two different strains of Kindred DNA mixed up together—makes it really hard to form a connection.”
“I see.” Tandy nodded. “So…what happened to her?” she asked curiously. “To the female you couldn’t, uh, bond to you?”
“She left me,” Vrox said shortly. They were getting a lot more personal than he’d ever intended to here—he hadn’t even let himself think of Melanda for cycles. But somehow this little Mistress had gotten right to the heart of him and found the most painful spot. Fucking Yonnites were natural sadists, he thought resentfully.
“And…you just let her go?” Tandy probed further.
“What else was I supposed to do?” Vrox growled. “Like I said, she wanted kids and I couldn’t give them to her. Sometimes you have to let people go—you know how it is with fucking relationships.” Then he got a closer look at Tandy’s face. “Or, no—you don’t know, do you?” he murmured. “I forgot, you Yonnites don’t have relationships with the opposite sex—you’re probably still a virgin, little girl. Probably never even been kissed.”
“I have too!” she protested hotly, lifting her chin.
“By who?” Vrox demanded. “Another Mistress? Or some slave you made kiss you?”
“I would never force a slave to do any kind of sexual activity on me!” she exclaimed. “And I wouldn’t need to,” she added, tossing her hair. “It just so happens there was a boy back in my hometown and we had a mutual attraction.”
“A mutual attraction, huh?” Vrox lifted an eyebrow at her. “So did he kiss you? Or fuck you? Or both?”
“Do you have to be so crude?” she exclaimed. Clearly this was a sore spot for her. “And anyway, I don’t have to answer that.”
“Oh yes, you fucking do,” Vrox growled. “This whole deal is quid pro quo, little girl—that means you give some and I give some. I let you question me about the most painful fucking relationship of my life—I should be able to do the same to you.”
“I haven’t even said I’d take your deal yet.” She got a stubborn expression her pretty face.
“Yeah, but I think you’re going to,” Vrox said softly. “You really want to help that little brother of yours and you know there’s no fucking way I’m bending my knee and calling you ‘Mistress’ unless you deal with me.”
Tandy looked fiercely angry for a moment, but then she gave a defeated sigh.
“All right,” she said. “He kissed me. And we started to do…” She cleared her throat. “To do other things but my, uh, father caught us.” Her cheeks were glowing with a blush again and Vrox couldn’t help thinking how pretty she was when she was embarrassed. “That was over five cycles ago—I was only a child,” she added, as though she was so much more grown up now. “But it was horribly embarrassing. My dad kept giving me this lecture about how ‘boys only want one thing’ and telling me I had to be careful. And it wasn’t long after that when my Aunt Zora asked to adopt me and I moved here.”
“Well, he’s right about that,” Vrox admitted. “Most males are only after your sweet pussy, little girl.” He cocked his head at her. “So you are a virgin.”
“I am not!” Tandy denied hotly. “I mean that is, I’ve had a shaft in me before.”
“Was it attached to a male?” Vrox asked, lifting an eyebrow at her.
“Well…no.” She lifted her chin. “It was…a toy.” She cleared her throat. “But that doesn’t have to be the only definition of virginity, you know. I’m not less of a woman because I’ve never let a male penetrate me.”
“I never said you were,” Vrox said mildly. “I was just curious to know if you’ve ever been
with a male before.”
“Why should you want to know that?” Tandy demanded, her cheeks still glowing.
“Because, little girl…” Vrox looked deep into her big brown eyes and let his voice drop to a menacing rumble. “If you penetrate me, I’m going to want to penetrate you. And unless the dildo you’ve been practicing with is extra-extra large, you’re gonna have a problem with that.”
He wasn’t really bragging about the size of his own malehood—well, maybe a little—but mostly he wanted to deter her from wanting to stick anything up his ass during the “Test of Mastery” as she had called it.
Tandy’s big eyes got even bigger and she swallowed hard.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Vrox said softly, seeing the uncertain look she was giving him. “I won’t do it to you unless you do it to me first. But I swear by all the Gods if I do penetrate you, you’re going to feel it, little girl. I’ll spread your thighs and fill your soft little pussy to the limit with my shaft and my seed—I’ll fuck you long and hard and deep until I come inside you. I promise you that.”
As he spoke, the Truth device on his finger beeped and lit up bright green. There was no more eloquent way to show that he was telling her the truth—that he meant every word of his threat which was also a promise.
Tandy swallowed again and one slim brown hand moved to the hollow of her throat, as though she wasn’t sure if she needed protection from him, despite the force field between them.
“I…believe you,” she said at last. “But you’ll only do that if I do it to you first?”
“That’s right.” He nodded and the device turned green again.
“And you won’t hurt me?”
“Not unless you hurt me first,” Vrox promised.
Green again.
“Do you hate me?” Tandy asked softly, searching his eyes with her own. “For…for buying you?”
Vrox sighed and ran the hand that wasn’t sticking out of the force field through his hair.
“Nah, I don’t hate you, little girl,” he growled at last. “I don’t think it was really your decision to buy me and I think…I think you’re doing what you have to in order to survive here.” His voice hardened. “The problem is, I need to survive too—and I don’t mean as a slave on this fucked-up, female-run planet, either. I need to get out of here and go find my friend and get on with my fucking life.”
Handling the Hybrid: A Kindred Tales Novel Page 4
