Dark and Light (A Kindred Tales Duet)

“Yes,” he said simply. “Though I can live off any kind of strong emotion, I find pleasure most satisfying and nourishing. Many Kru’ell Ones live off pain—it is why we’ve gotten such the reputation of being Sadists.”

“I suppose I should be glad I didn’t catch the eye of one of those kinds of Kru’ell Ones,” Alli said, frowning.

His face, which had been mildly amused, went suddenly grave.

“Very lucky,” he growled. “If you had caught the eye of our Overlord for instance—” He stopped abruptly and shook his head.

“What?” Alli was intrigued in spite of herself. “The who?”

“The Overlord who rules us all—the head of the Kru’ell Ones,” Kane explained. “He feeds exclusively off pain. It is said that not many of his concubines survive his…attentions.”

“How awful!” Alli shivered at the thought. “What happens to your concubines, though?” she asked, frowning at Kane. “Do you let them go home—the way you promised to bring me home when my month is up?”

Kane raised an eyebrow.

“If you’re probing to see if I am still planning to take you home at the end of our solar month together, the answer is yes, Allisandra. I fully intend to honor my word to you.”

Alli felt something loosen in her chest. She’d been afraid to bring the subject up herself but she wanted desperately to know that she absolutely would be getting out of here after her allotted time was up. Still, she also wanted to know what Kane did with a girl after he was finished “feeding” on her.

“Thank you,” she said. “That’s good to know. But my question stands—what happens to your other concubines when their month is up? Unless you keep some of them for longer?”

“I never keep a concubine for longer than a month. In fact, I usually only keep them for a week,” Kane said, frowning. “It’s too easy to grow attached when one is feeding off of pleasure, as I am.”

Alli wished he would have agreed to let her go in a week, but she didn’t say it out loud. She wanted to wait and see what else he might say.

“Most of my concubines—in fact, all of them besides yourself—have come from Earth,” he told her.

“Your Earth, you mean,” Alli said flatly. “The world you took over and dominated for your own use.”

“Yes.” Kane shrugged. “I’ve never denied that. But the problem with getting concubines from a subjugated people is that they tend to be dull and lifeless—stunned into submission by brute force at first and then kept quiescent by the constant supply of Calm which they’re given as a supplement every day.”

“Calm?” Alli frowned. “What’s that?”

“A drug,” Kane said frankly. “Given to all the humans on Earth to keep them from rising up against us. But it also makes the females dull and uninteresting.” He shrugged. “And to answer your question, when I am finished feeding from one of them, I give her a choice. She can either return to the Harem, or go into the general population of Earth, and try to find herself a human mate.”

“The Harem?” Alli looked at him disbelievingly. This just got worse and worse! “What is the Harem?” she demanded.

“The complex where all Earth females eligible to become concubines are kept,” Kane answered. “It is where the Kru’ell Ones go when we wish to find a new female to feed from for a time.”

“Your people really are vampires!” Alli was horrified. “Don’t you have any shame at all about what you’ve done to the people of Earth?”

“The people of Earth were killing themselves before we came.” Kane’s deep voice was icy. “They were consumed with wars and race riots and they had nearly killed their planet with out of control carbon emissions and climate change. A very few of them held vast wealth, while billions of others went hungry. We changed all of that.” He made a sweeping motion with one hand. “We terraformed the planet and reduced carbon emissions. We reversed climate change. We brought peace and equality to every corner of the world.”

“By drugging the people!” Alli exclaimed. “I’m sorry, but it doesn’t matter what wonderful things you’ve achieved if you had to take away people’s free will to do it!”

Kane shrugged. “If it helps, I voted against giving the humans Calm. But I was outvoted. The Overlord wanted it and so most of the Council voted with him.”

Alli shook her head.

“I’m just really glad my Earth isn’t like the one your people have ‘annexed’. It would be awful to have to choose between having my emotions fed off of constantly or going to live in a place where nobody has any free will.”

Kane raised an eyebrow at her.

“Come on now, baby—has it really been that bad, having me feed off your pleasure?”

“It’s torture,” Alli whispered. Even now her nipples tingled and her pussy throbbed with need.