Dark and Light (A Kindred Tales Duet)

Alli hoped so too, but she had a bad feeling about the upcoming feast. A very bad feeling indeed.

Twenty-Four

The Earth of Kane’s universe was a gray and colorless place.

Part of that was because of the thick layer of clouds which blanketed the entire planet. Kane had explained that the sensitive eyes of the Kru’ell Ones, which were capable of seeing into another person’s soul, were ill-adapted to stand direct sunlight. Using terraforming machines, the Kru’ell Ones had covered the Earth in clouds, remaking the planet in their own image and better suiting it to their needs.

They had bent the humans who lived there to their will as well. Alli saw that first-hand as Kane drove his shuttle through the streets of Washington DC. In her world, the US government still had its buildings and institutions in the capital city. On Kane’s Earth, these had been removed or rebuilt for the use of the Kru’ell One Kindred who had taken over.

The streets which led to the Overlord’s palace—which was located where the White House had been—were muted and colorless. Ordinary people were out and about, but all of them were dressed in plain, gray, shapeless garments. In fact, the only bit of color Alli saw on any of them was a kind of insignia worn either on the left breast or the right sleeve of their clothing.

When she asked Kane about it, he explained that the various markings denoted which industry a human worked in or which Kru’ell One household they were attached to. As he explained it, this made for easier identification if the human in question got lost or injured.

Alli was appalled.

“So they’re like slaves?” she demanded. “Or like pets with chips in their necks?”

Kane frowned.

“More like…worker bees. They keep the planet running smoothly, not just for the Kru’ell Ones but also for themselves.”

“Because they have no choice!” Alli exclaimed.

“Look at them, Allisandra,” he said flatly. “Do they look like they want a choice?”

Taking a closer look at the faces of the people on the streets of the formerly bustling city, Alli saw that he was right. She saw no emotion on any of them. All eyes looked straight ahead, intent on their tasks but not wondering or thinking, or planning ahead, not happy or sad or mad—just blank.

“This is terrible,” she said in a low voice, too shaken to even be angry. “They’re like robots…zombies.”

“They’re at peace,” Kane argued, but Alli thought he looked slightly uncomfortable as he said it. “It’s the effect of the Calm—the drug they all take every day. It wipes out any aggression they might be feeling and replaces it with peaceful feelings.”

“They don’t look like they’re having any feelings at all,” Alli objected. “How can you think this is all right? To do this to another race of people?”

Kane frowned.

“Personally, I’m not in favor of it—I voted against giving such a high dosage. But the Overlord has the final say and he doesn’t like to be bothered with insurrection. It was either give the humans Calm, or subjugate them with force. Using the drug instead saved millions—perhaps billions of human lives.”

“But what did you save them for? To live like zombies?” Alli asked. “To walk through the world in a fog, never truly knowing themselves or anyone else, never experiencing any love or joy or excitement?”

“Or pain or jealousy or greed or anger,” Kane countered. He sighed and shook his head. “This is what I’ll miss about you, baby. Your spark—your fire.”

“Of course you’ll miss it,” Alli snapped. “Because you certainly can’t get it from any of the drugged zombies around here! I’m surprised you can get any kind of nourishment at all from these people, if you feed from emotions as you claim to.”

Kane frowned.

“The dosage of Calm is decreased for a female once she’s chosen as a concubine. But her emotions are still muted, I admit.”

“Will you also admit that this is wrong?” Alli made a gesture, encompassing the gray, silent streets with the gray, silent people shuffling along them.

His frown deepened.

“It is the way things are, Allisandra. Let it drop.”

“I won’t let it drop!” she exclaimed. “I’m surprised you’re not ashamed of yourself to be affiliated with all this. What would the Goddess say?”

“We have no Goddess,” Kane growled. “My people were created by the Cruel Father. He sent us out into the universe to subjugate and to feed on those weaker than ourselves. So that’s what we fucking do.”

Alli shook her head.

“You can say this is fine, but I don’t think you really believe it, Kane.”

“What I believe, is my business. Your business is to keep your mouth shut during this feast and not draw attention to yourself.” His gravelly voice had dropped to a menacing growl and he shot her a warning look.

Alli glared at him.

“So all this time you’ve been so sweet to me, making love to me—or should I say ‘giving me your seed’—holding and cuddling me because you knew I craved it—pretending you cared about my opinion—all of that was just an act to you? And now you want me to be as dull and lifeless as the poor humans from your own universe that you’ve drugged into submission?”