Enticed by the Satyr (Kindred Tales)

As the rest of the World Leaders murmured among themselves, Aldus Perce rose in his seat and cleared his throat importantly.

“As a matter of fact, Chancellor Sylvan, the leaders of the Earth had already reached a conclusion before you got here,” he said.

“Is that so?” Sylvan raised one eyebrow and frowned. “You made a decision even before you heard my evidence and my plea?”

“We didn’t need to hear either to come to an agreement,” Aldus Perce declared. “It is the estimation of this Council, that not only will we not allow these new monstrous Kindred to call brides from among us, but that we will also be refusing to send any further females from Earth to the Kindred Mother Ship.”

“What?” Baird demanded. “What are you saying?”

Aldus Perce glared at him.

“What I am saying, Kindred, is that in our estimation, the Bride Draft has run its course and served its purpose. Ten years ago, you saved us from the Scourge, and for that, we are grateful. But surely a full decade of allowing you to call brides from among us has paid that debt!” He pounded on the Council table for emphasis as he shouted. “Therefore, no more human women will be forced to go up to your floating palace of sin and corruption and be subject to your unnatural, alien lusts!”

“Careful, Secretary-General,” Sylvan said dryly. “I believe your bigotry is showing.”

Perce lifted his chin.

“And what if I am biased against your kind? Can anyone blame me? We all know how you operate—you lure our women up to your ship with the promise that they will only have to stay for a single month to undergo your ‘Claiming Period’. But then, while they are there, you somehow bewitch them! Less than one percent of the human women who go up to the Kindred Mother Ship ever leave it to come home and resume their normal lives! Less than one percent!”

“Speaking as a human woman who was ‘lured’ to the Mother Ship, the reason we stay is because the Kindred are so much more enlightened than human men,” Olivia spoke up. She ticked the reasons off on her fingers. “They don’t consider the female sex to be inferior to them. They give our opinions equal weight with their own, and they are emotionally intelligent to a much higher degree than human men. Not only that but, speaking frankly, they always put a woman’s pleasure first in the bedroom.” She shrugged. “All-in-all, a Kindred warrior is superior to a human man in just about every way you can think of. That’s why we stay.”

“How dare you spew such nonsense at this sacred Council, woman?” Aldus Perce thundered, glaring at her. “Clearly, you have been brainwashed by the Kindred just like all the other females they have taken from us over the years since we made our devil’s bargain with them!”

“If by ‘brainwashed’ you mean listened to, valued, protected, and cherished, then yes, I guess so,” Olivia said coolly. “Not to mention pleasured extremely well.”

“And watch how you talk to my wife!” Baird growled. He looked over his shoulder and he and Olivia exchanged a glance.

“Told you he needed a punch in the face,” Baird sent through their link. “Asshole!”

“I stand corrected—you were absolutely right about him,” Olivia sent back. “But you still can’t punch him.”

“Please? Just once?”

“No!” There was some humor but also a little worry in her mental tone. She knew that Baird wouldn’t punch Perce for an insult to himself, but if he thought the human male was insulting his mate, well…that was a different story.

“All right,” Baird sent. “I’ll behave but he’d better be respectful to you, lilenta!”

“Let me see if I understand you correctly,” Sylvan said, raising his voice to get the attention of the World Council, who were all murmuring among themselves. “Are you saying you’ve made the arbitrary decision to end the Bride Draft without even talking to us first? Don’t you think you owe us at least some courtesy after the Kindred have protected Earth all these years?”

“You protected us because you wanted to prey on us!” Aldus Perce shouted dramatically. “You—”

“Oh!” gasped a Council member behind him—a dignified looking mature female with iron gray hair. “What is that?”

31

Heads all around the table swiveled to see what she was pointing at, which seemed to be something just outside the Crystal Dome.

Baird’s head jerked up as well and his jaw dropped as he saw a sight in the sky above them that made his stomach clench.

There, right over the World Council Building, the clear blue sky of Earth seemed to be unzipping.

As Baird watched, he realized what was happening—a gash was opening in the fabric of space-time—and it was opening right before their eyes. Before anyone else at the table could say a word, the glowing green gash, which had appeared like a long wound in the pale blue sky, suddenly widened. And then something flew out of it.