Hidden Rage: Kindred Tales

“Shut up with that yammering, girl!” Rep. Yariz snapped. “The Komendant has made his plans clear and he never changes his mind. If you don’t be quiet, you’ll die too!”

“It’s okay, Keelah. Just be quiet,” Bobbi said numbly. “Please,” she said to the Saurian Mob boss who had almost been her Father-in-law. “Please just make it quick.”

“Right through the heart,” he promised her coolly. “I wouldn’t want to damage your pretty face, my dear—after all, my son must be able to identify your body clearly and know that you’re truly gone.”

He aimed the blaster at the left side of Bobbi’s chest.

Bobbi took a deep breath and tightened her hands into fists at her sides. She squeezed her eyes closed, waiting for the shot. She hoped it wouldn’t be too painful and that he really could kill her in one shot.

Please, she prayed, though she hardly knew who she was praying to. Please, I’m so scared! Please help me…please…

Suddenly, a warm presence seemed to fill the space around her and Bobbi’s nose was filled with the smell of flowers and new fallen rain and fresh baked bread—all the scents of comfort and home.

Courage, daughter, a strong, feminine voice whispered in her ear. I have not brought you so far from home, to let you fall now!

“Who…what…?” Bobbi whispered, opening her eyes to look for the source of the voice. But suddenly, a new voice echoed through the vast, tiled front room.

“What in the hell is going on here?” it demanded. “What are you doing to Bobbi?”

60

Dragon had been having a strange feeling as he approached the building where his nose told him Bobbi had gone. She had indeed found her way from the Marketplace into the blue light district and her scent stopped at the front door of a dilapidated Pleasure house with windows already glowing blue.

But hers wasn’t the only familiar scent his sensitive nose detected. There were others he knew here, too. Zerlix’s scent might be a coincidence—his Saurian brother frequented many places where Pleasure Girls were for sale. But why were the scents of his Sire and his Sire’s Advisor also swirling around the door?

Dragon frowned. Could he be mistaken? His nose never lied to him but all the smells he detected were mixed liberally with the bittersweet reek of dream weed smoke. Maybe the smoke was distorting his senses?

He had always avoided the drug before, disliking the way even a whiff of it made him feel. It seemed to make hazy, half-formed pictures in his mind. Disturbing pictures that faded away to mist when he tried to examine them more closely.

Shaking his head, Dragon had pushed the strange thoughts aside. Dream weed smoke or not, he knew that Bobbi had entered this building—knew it beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Quietly, so as not to alert anyone inside to his presence, he opened the front door and slipped into the Pleasure House. Inside, the scent of the dream weed smoke was stronger and he found he couldn’t avoid inhaling some of it, though he tried not to.

To his left was a staircase, but Dragon had barely glanced at it. He was concentrating on the voices he could hear coming from the front room. Familiar voices, all of them.

“Please just make it quick,” a soft, feminine voice was begging.

Bobbi’s voice! Dragon’s heart leapt in his chest. But the voice that answered her was also instantly recognizable.

“Right through the heart,” it said in a cool, detached tone. “I wouldn’t want to damage your pretty face, my dear—after all, my son must be able to identify your body clearly and know that you’re truly gone.”

What the hell? What is my Sire doing here? Dragon wondered. And what are they talking about?

Taking a deep, measured breath—which unfortunately caused him to inhale more of the dream weed smoke—he stepped into the front room of the Pleasure House and saw an unbelievable sight.

Bobbi was standing in the middle of a large, tiled room with a high ceiling. The tiles, there’s something funny about the tiles—you’ve seen them before, whispered a little voice in his head. But Dragon pushed it aside. Because standing across from Bobbi was his Sire and his Sire’s Advisor, Rep. Yariz.

But the worst and strangest thing was that Dragon’s Sire was pointing a blaster directly at Bobbi’s heart!

“What in the hell is going on here?” Dragon demanded, his voice harsh in his own ears. “What are you doing to Bobbi?”

He stepped into the room, glaring at the strange tableau in front of him. His Sire was pointing a blaster at the woman he love. But why?

Pointing a blaster, he’s pointing a blaster at the people you love, whispered a little voice in his head.

Suddenly, Dragon’s vision wavered. Instead of Bobbi, he saw the people from his dream standing across from Komendant Vizlar. The Kindred male—Taurex—had his arm around his wife’s shoulders and Lalish had one of her arms wrapped around his waist. There was a frightened look on her face and she had a hand on their son’s head. Tolor was clinging to her leg, peering shyly at the Saurians who were menacing them all.