Delivered by the Defender (Kindred Tales)

“Can’t I get another Seal some other way?” she asked hopefully. “I mean, there must be a way to get a replacement, right?”

He shook his head.

“Getting one in the first place is a months-long process.”

He explained briefly what was involved in getting an actual Seal of Independence on Ma’shorka Centra and Selena felt her face fall.

“Wow,” she said when he was done. “That sounds like a lot of red tape. But what about buying a used one? Didn’t you say there was a big market for them?”

“Certainly—if you have about a hundred thousand annahs lying around in your account,” Valen said acerbically. “And if you don’t mind facing the consequences if you’re caught with a counterfeit or stolen Seal—which happens to be a thousand lifetimes of hard labor.”

“What? That’s crazy!” Selena protested. “Why is it so hard to get a Seal of Independence if it’s required for women who want to be on their own?”

“The Ma’shorkans make it difficult on purpose,” Valen said blandly. “They dislike the idea of a female being independent in the first place, so they make it as hard as possible for anyone to achieve that status.”

“They sound like a bunch of sexist assholes!” Selena said fiercely. “When I think that those two policemen were just going to let that awful man take me without trying to do anything about it…”

“It’s lucky I caught your sweet scent when I did,” he agreed, nodding.

“Um, yes…” Selena felt her cheeks getting hot. Was he paying her a compliment, calling her scent “sweet?” It was hard to tell with his stern exterior. “Yes, it’s a good thing. And thank you,” she added. “I’m not sure if I said that yet. You didn’t have to come after me, especially after the way things went on the shuttle. So thank you, very much.”

“I could do no less—no Kindred could ignore the call of a female in distress,” he growled, frowning. “As for the shuttle, we got off on the incorrect foot, as you humans say. But that was my fault. I was…intensely hungry when we first met, and I’m afraid it made me rather irritable.”

“Oh, are you hungry?” Selena asked, feeling guilty when she looked at the decimated cheese and fruit platter. “I’m so sorry! I hope I left you enough!”

“No, you misunderstand me—it wasn’t food I was hungry for.” He gave her a direct look. “I was hungry for blood.”

“Uh, what?” Selena stared at him uncertainly. “What…what do you mean? I thought you said you were a Blood Kindred and I’ve always heard they only use their fangs to inject stuff—not suck it out. Blood, I mean,” she added.

“The ‘stuff’ they inject is called ‘Essence,’ and it’s used in healing or binding a female to you,” he said. “I can inject Essence, but not when I’m biting for blood. I am, as I think I told you before, a Pitch-Blood Kindred. That means I do bite for blood, which I need to drink on a regular basis to stay healthy.” He gave her a challenging look, as though he was certain this information would scare her.

“So…you’re like a vampire?” Selena said blankly. She wasn’t scared exactly, but it was strange. She’d never heard of this kind of Kindred before.

He nodded shortly.

“Yes, in a way, I am like the ‘vampires’ of your literature. Though I don’t need to ‘drain my victims dry’ in order to live, myself. I just need a few swallows at least once a week, which I usually get from a paid donor. But I haven’t been able to get to a donor this week, which means I was extremely hungry when we first met.” He shrugged, his broad, bare shoulders rolling. “I believe my state of hunger directly contributed to the way I treated you. It was inexcusable, of course, but I am not used to dealing with females.”

“Oh, so you were hangry!” Selena exclaimed.

“Excuse me?” He raised his dark eyebrows in apparent confusion.

“Oh, it’s a combination of ‘hungry’ and ‘angry,’” Selena told him. “It’s when you get so hungry, you get all snappish and moody and irritated with everyone. It happens to my kids a lot—that’s one reason I try to always keep some snacks around.”

“Your kids? Your children, you mean? How many do you have?” Valen asked.

“Oh, about fifty to a hundred at a time,” Selena said, and then grinned when she saw his confusion. “I’m kidding. When I say, ‘my kids,’ I mean my students. I teach high school orchestra, back on Earth.”

“But I thought you said you were a professional violinist?” he said, frowning.

“Oh, I am—I’m both,” Selena assured him. “Although believe me, if I could make a living just being a concert violinist, I’d do it in a heartbeat. But only the top one percent of violinists can manage that.”

“So you teach in order to supplement doing what you truly love, which is playing music,” Valen said.