Enslaved (Brides of the Kindred Book 14) (38 page)

Chapter
Twenty-eight

“Well, well, well…so nice to see you again, my dear
Havoc.”

The face that popped up when his viewscreen finally
established contact with
The Alacrity
was horribly familiar.

“You,” Thrace breathed, staring at the
gleaming metal teeth and the one, mad eye dancing in its hollow socket.

“It’s
Two
, actually not ‘you’ but I know
what you mean.” Two giggled. “Of course, you only knew me as B’Rugh’s second in
command. But I am so much more—to you as well as others that you love and will
someday come to care for. You might say that our destinies are entwined. Isn’t
that a romantic idea?”

“Stop fucking around and tell me what you’re doing
aboard
The Alacrity.
And where’s Trin? I swear by all the Gods if you’ve
hurt her—”

“Oh no, my dear Havoc—she has not been wounded…yet.
I am saving that honor for you.”

“What do you mean? What are you talking about?” Thrace
demanded. But Two only shook his head.

“You’ll find out soon enough. Your pod should dock
with
The Alacrity
very shortly. But remember one thing, my dear Havoc…”
He held up one long, skeletal finger.
“I
am in charge here now. If you
try to come in, blasters blazing, you’ll only get your darling Trin and all the
rest of her crew killed. Well…” He made a face. “The ones that are still alive,
anyway.”

“You fucker, what have you done? You—” Thrace burst
out but the viewscreen went black and no amount of calling would raise an
answer from
The
Alacrity
. He could do nothing but wait.

It only took another half hour for the pod to dock
but Thrace
swore it was the longest half hour of his life. The moment he felt the solid
bump of metal kissing metal, he sprang to the door, ready to confront Two and
save the female he loved.

But it was
Sidna
, not Two who met him at the door of the shuttle. The medic looked
haggard, lines of fear and sorrow drawn on her face and shadows under her gray
eyes.

“Havoc,” she greeted him flatly.

“Sidna.” He nodded at her briefly. “Where’s Trin?
Is she all right?”

“No, but there’s nothing you can do to help her.
That male, Two—I think he’s the one that Trin met in The Demon’s Eye…”

“Yes, that’s where we met him,” Thrace said impatiently. “How in
the Seven Hells did he get aboard?”

“My fault.” She passed a trembling hand over her
eyes. “There was a distress call and he put up a false image. Trin left me in
charge while the two of you were on Yonnie Six and I let him in. He’s already
killed Terra and Jola is wounded… Oh Goddess of Judgment, what have I done?”
Her eyes filled with tears but Thrace
had no time for comfort or consolation.

“Listen to me.” He grabbed her by the shoulders and
shook once, briefly. “What’s done is done. However he got aboard, he’s here
now. What I need to know is, where is Trin? Has he hurt her?”

Sidna sniffed and swiped at her eyes.

“Two has her on the bridge. I don’t think he’s
harmed her physically but there’s definitely something wrong with her. She keeps
complaining of being hot…says she can’t breathe and she’s so thirsty but Two
won’t let any of us give her a drink.”

“The bastard.” Thrace started off down the metal
hallway in long strides but Sidna hurried after him.

“Be careful! He said if you try to take her away or
shoot him, he’ll kill her!”

“I’ll be careful,” Thrace snarled. “And that
son-of-a-bitch had better be careful too. If he’s harmed Trin in any way I’ll
fucking kill him!”

As he spoke the last words, he rounded the corner
that led into the control area of the ship. Sure enough, there was Two,
standing with one arm wrapped around Trin’s slim waist. With his other hand, he
held a deadly looking snub-nosed dissipater to her temple.

“Two,” Thrace spat.

“In the flesh.” Two nodded genially.

He looked much the same as he had when Thrace
first met him in The Demon’s Eye except that his skin was considerably paler
and the blackish brown spots on the exposed part of his brain seemed to have
grown, like some kind of rot spreading in the gray, spongy tissue.

“You’ll kill me, will you?” he drawled, grinning
widely to show all his metal teeth. “Yes, I expect you will at that. But not
yet, my dear Havoc. Not…quite…yet.” He nodded down at the female in his arms.
“First you might want to have a look at your
mistress.”

His heart in his throat, Thrace looked more closely at the
slender figure still draped in the deep green dress with its white lace panels.
Trin didn’t look well at all. In fact, the dissipater Two was holding on her
barely seemed necessary. She was sagging in his grip, her cheeks flushed and
her lips parted as she tried to breathe.

“Trin?
Trin!”
Thrace felt a shock of fear and
desperation race through him.

“Th-thrace?” Her eyelids parted a crack and she
looked at him with dull eyes.

“Trin? Baby—are you okay?”

“No.” She shook her head weakly. “So hot and so…so
thirsty.”

Thrace
glared at Two. “What’s wrong with her? What did
you do to her?”

“Why, I have no
idea
what’s wrong with her.”
Two shrugged his boney shoulders eloquently. “She was like this when she got
here.”

“Trin listen to me—what happened?” Thrace leaned
closer to her but Two drew back, pressing the muzzle of the dissipater hard
against her temple.

“Ah-ah-ah, my dear Havoc. Keep your distance for
now.”

“But what happened? What’s wrong with her?”

“He…he gave me a drink.” Trin’s eyes were
heavy-lidded and she seemed to be struggling to get the words out. “Back on…on
Yonnie Six. After I ran…ran away from you.”

“Two gave you a drink?”

“No…” She shook her head sluggishly. “Lord…Lord X.
He gave me a drink. Made my lips numb. Started feeling…funny. And now I’m so…so
hot. So
thirsty.”

Thrace
was beginning to get a bad feeling about this. A
very
bad feeling.

“It made you hot, you say? What did he give you?”

“Don’t know.” She shook her head weakly.

“Well,
I
do,” Two said brightly. He turned
to Trin. “But that doesn’t matter. What matters is how thirsty poor little Trin
is
now.”

The long boney hand wrapped around Trin’s waist
snaked down out of sight and returned holding a flask. Two popped off the lid
and waved it enticingly under her nose.

“Wh..what is that?” Trin’s eyes opened a little
wider. “So thirsty…something to drink?”

“Something
delicious,”
Two promised with a
sneering smile. “Something that will quench your thirst
forever.”

“No!” Suddenly it all clicked into place for Thrace.
“No, don’t Trin! Don’t drink it—it’s poison!”

He lunged forward but she was already grasping the
flask Two held to her lips and gulping thirstily.

Shoving the dissipater Two held to one side, Thrace
tore the flask away from Trin’s lips. But it was too late—he could see the
blood-red ribbon of wine sliding from the corner of her mouth. Drugged wine,
and he knew what it was drugged with.

“Ah-ah—step back for just a moment, if you please.”
Two had regained his grip on the dissipater and was holding it on Thrace now.
“Just give it a moment to take effect.” He looked down at Trin. “Better now, my
dear?”

“I…think so.” Trin straightened up, her eyes
looking clearer than they had before. But her cheeks were still flushed and her
breathing was rapid and shallow. “What happened?”

“Why, you took the third drink, my dear.” Two
smiled at her nastily. “The third drink of passion berry wine. Don’t you
remember? The first drink makes you cold…the second makes you hot…and the third
drink…”

“Makes you dead. Oh my Goddess!” Trin put a hand to
her mouth. “But, that’s not possible! I was sure the first drink was completely
out of my system.”

“It would have been…with normal passion berries.”
Two grinned. “But you see, these are a special strain I’ve been developing in
my spare time. You know, between killing people for B’Rugh, tracking down the
two of you, hiring the most deadly assassin in this galaxy or any other for
another little side project I have… He shrugged modestly. “It’s just a hobby,
really.”

“You bastard, you’ve killed her.” Thrace felt like he was going to
die himself. He couldn’t bear to lose Trin—not now that he was aligned with
her, not when he finally knew his own mind and heart and knew that he loved
her.

This
is why the Havoc don’t bond,
he thought
dully, watching her flushed cheeks and rapid breathing.
Because tying
yourself so closely to a female rips your fucking heart out.
But it was too
late—he
was
tied to her. Tied so closely that if she died, he knew he
would want to follow her into death.

“No, I haven’t killed her.” Two smiled, showing his
metal teeth again. “She
can
still be saved, as you well know.”

“Not by you,” Thrace snarled, feeling sick. “Get
your fucking hands off her,
now!”

“Gladly.” Two removed his hands from Trin’s waist
and shoulder and gave her a little push towards Thrace. “Now that she’s had the
third drink, she’s all yours, Havoc.”

“Thrace?”
Trin looked up at him as he pulled her against his side.

“It’s all right, baby,” he murmured, stroking her
shoulders. “Everything is going to be all right.” Which was a complete lie and
he knew it. He glared at Two. “Why did you do this?” he demanded. “Why target
us in this way? Is it revenge for what happened in The Demon’s Eye?”

“Well, that is the
nominal
reason, yes. I
promised B’Rugh that I would make you both suffer—which is why I arranged for
Trin to see your past using the nightmare vapor. I wanted her to know
exactly
what kind of male you were—wanted her to know what had been done to you.”

“So
you’re
the one who pumped the gas into
our room,” Thrace
growled

“No, no—I said I
arranged
for it to happen.
I
had
hoped that when faced with Lady Tam-tam’s request, Trin would…ah
violate
you in the same way you had been hurt in the past. Such an event would
surely have triggered a most violent and interesting reaction.” He sighed
deeply. “Unfortunately she refused to do so and I was forced to resort to plan
B—the passion berry juice.”

“You bastard,” Thrace said thickly.

“Indeed.” Two’s eyes gleamed. “I promised B’Rugh
you would suffer and suffer you
shall
. Now it will be
you
who is
forced to do the violating, my dear Havoc. You
can
still save her—if you
take her in a way she has sworn never to be taken.”

“You know I can’t do that,” Thrace said
angrily.

“You’ll have to. You can save her body and damn her
soul…or you can save her soul and watch her die in your arms.” Two spread his hands.
“The choice is yours.”

“Why?” Trin whispered and Thrace could feel her trembling
against his side. “I still don’t understand
why
you’re doing this to us
.”

“You don’t need to know.” Two smiled coldly.
“Suffice it to say my reasons have to do with a foretelling of the future. The
future not just of you two, but of a whole race. But we can talk later.” He
looked at Thrace.
“For now, hadn’t you better tend to your mistress? She’s looking a little
worse
for the wear.”

Suddenly Thrace felt Trin sag against him.
He looked down to see that her eyes were half-lidded and she was panting.

“Thrace,
something is wrong. I feel…so strange,” she whispered. “What’s wrong with me?
Is it the passion berries?”

“Probably.” He lifted her gently into his arms and
cradled her against him. Then he glared at Two. “This isn’t over.”

“No, of course not.” Two looked positively gleeful.
“And it won’t be until you either cure her in a way that is forbidden to her…or
watch her die. Either way, I’ll wait.” He folded his arms across his skinny
chest and grinned. “Just take your time.”

*
* * * *

Trin was feeling decidedly strange as Thrace
carried her back to her quarters, the long green dress dragging limply down his
arm. At least it no longer felt like it was made of stifling fur and her skin
wasn’t burning up anymore. But something else was wrong with her—something that
went deeper than heat or cold.

The
passion berries,
she thought numbly.
I’ve had
three drinks. I’m going to die.

“You’re not going to die.” Thrace muttered, as if answering
her morbid thoughts. He carried her into her quarters and locked the door. Then
he set her on her feet. “I won’t let you die, Trin—I swear it.”