Shadowed: Brides of the Kindred book 8 (49 page)

Wave
—a Kindred cooking appliance which emits thousands of finely collimated beams of heat to cook food in under a minute.

Zichther
—an animal native to the jungles of Rageron, the zichther resembles a small bright blue teddy bear in appearance until it opens its mouth and reveals three rows of incredibly sharp, shark-like teeth.

About the Author

Evangeline Anderson is a registered MRI tech who would rather be writing. And yes, she is nerdy enough to have a bumper sticker that says “I’d rather be writing.” Honk if you see her! She is thirty-something and lives in Florida with a husband, a son, and two cats. She had been writing erotic fiction for her own gratification for a number of years before it occurred to her to try and get paid for it. To her delight, she found that it was actually possible to get money for having a dirty mind and she has been writing paranormal and Sci-fi erotica steadily ever since.

You can find her online at her website www.evangelineanderson.com

Come visit for some free reads and to find out what’s coming soon. You can also connect with her on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/evangeline.anderson.773

Read on for a taste of two new books, coming soon from Evangeline Anderson…

Ruby Shadows book three in the Born to Darkness series

coming out fall or winter of 2013

Nothing is for free when it comes to demons…a fact that Gwendolyn LaRoux finds out the hard way when she summons Laish, a demon from the Shadow Lands to help her cook up a little black magic. Unfortunately black magic has a way of growing and soon Gwendolyn finds herself drowning in darkness. Still, she’s determined to clean up her own mess. But when a creature from the Abyss enters our world and threatens her beloved grandmother, Gwendolyn has to admit she needs help—which means summoning the infuriating Laish, even though she swore never to call on him again.

Answering Gwendolyn’s incantations in a moment of boredom was a mistake for a demon who keeps what little heart he has left under lock and key. Laish immediately fell for the Creole beauty with jade green eyes and creamy, café au lait skin and now he’s determined to have her—no matter what the cost. And thanks to Gwendolyn’s sticky dilemma, the price just went up.

When it turns out that the intrepid witch must travel through the Shadow Lands and close the door she left open to the Pit, she knows at once she can’t make the dangerous journey on her own. Of course Laish is more than willing to act as her escort and bodyguard…for a not-so-small fee. Gwendolyn doesn’t want to use her body as a bargaining chip but the lustful demon will accept no other form of currency. And since her grandmother’s life is at stake, she has no choice. Little by little she must give in to his demands.

As Gwendolyn and Laish travel further and further into the interior of Hell, will he be able to keep her safe? And will she be able to keep her innocence? Or with they lose themselves and each other among the… Ruby Shadows?

Purity…coming out fall of 2013

K is a fourth level Paladin and a servant of Purity—the holy nothingness she has been taught to revere and aspire to from childhood. Born on a sexless world from an artificial womb, K was fitted with a black mesh skinsuit at the tender age of nine. The suit nourishes and defends her from enemies and serves as her main weapon in the holy war her people have declared on the rest of the universe. It also eradicates even the slightest traces of emotion. Leading her purge squad in a never-ending mission to rid the universe of the Impure, K is accustomed to killing or enslaving everyone she meets. That is, until she meets Boone.

Boone is a doctor and geneticist from Colossus—a heavy G world which has rendered the people who inhabited it larger and stronger than regular humans. He’s more than happy to stay on his own planet and do research—until his little sister is taken by Purists and delivered to the pshalite mines. Frantic to rescue her, he hatches a desperate plot—capture a Paladin and use the enemy pawn to gain access to where his sister is being held. K falls into his net—but not without a fight. When she is wounded in the battle, Boone is forced to cut off her skinsuit in order to save her life.

Now, removed from her comforting routine and separated from the parasitic suit, K is beginning to change. Her body is ripening, transforming in ways she can’t understand. And for the first time in her life she can feel…whether she wants to or not. In order to survive in her new environment she has to cooperate with Boone. But she soon finds that it isn’t only her body he holds prisoner…but also her heart.

Chapter one

K knew she was dead the minute she woke up.

Her death sentence was written in the neat row of black stitches marching along her inner thigh like orderly insects. The fact that she could see her own thigh—that it wasn’t obscured by the black mesh of her skinsuit—was her first clue, but stitches in her flesh clinched it.

She had been contaminated—maybe fatally so. Still, she hoped. She prayed to Purity that she might still remain untouched. She couldn’t remember anything—not the way she’d gotten the wound, or the person who had sewed it up. She didn’t even know how she’d ended up on a table in the small bare room with battered metal cabinets and chipped white countertops.

She only knew her head throbbed like a rotten melon about to burst and her suit was gone, leaving her helpless.

Get hold of yourself, K. You’re a fourth level Paladin. You can handle this. You can handle anything.
Even being naked and alone, stripped of her weapons and defenses?
Yes.
She raised her chin and tried to examine the room where she found herself though her vision kept wavering in and out of focus alarmingly.
You’re not defenseless,
she reminded herself.

Paladins went through rigorous physical training from the time they could walk and K was no exception. Looking down at herself she could see that her body, which she hadn’t seen nude since childhood when she had first been fitted for her skinsuit, was strong and lean. In fact, other than being considerably bigger—she was almost two meters, tall for a female—it looked much the same as it had back then.

Her chest was flat as a Paladin’s should be. Breasts only got in the way during combat, presenting the enemy with a sensitive target. She thanked Purity that hers were almost nonexistent, the nipples a pale, innocent pink that blended into the white of her skin. Glancing further down she noted that her hips were narrow and strong and her sex was barely noticeable—a colorless slit between her thighs. This was as it should be. Her body was strong—fit to fight—and that was all K ever asked of it. Nothing else was required.

K looked around. There was a flat metal panel bolted to one wall of the room. A viewscreen? It wasn’t transmitting anything at the moment and in its shiny surface she saw her face. The image staring back at her seemed strangely vulnerable without the cowl of the skinsuit to frame it. The thick blue-black cable of her hair—the only soft part of her—was still coiled in a braid at the back of her neck and her black-on-black eyes marked her level and achievements.

All Purists had black irises—it was a trait of their people. But as they progressed toward true Purity the black bled outward, obscuring the white sclera. It was a slow process and painful—it had cost K much to get where she was today with only a thin white ring around the outer perimeter of her eyes. When she reached the fifth level and surrendered herself completely to Purity even that would be gone. She would be as cold and empty as space itself, hollow inside. A vessel filled with holy nothingness. It was what every Purist worked for tirelessly, though few achieved it.

There was one who had achieved it, though—the High Sentinel. He had taken an early interest in K, making her his protégé despite her routine origin, a fact that would have pleased her immensely if she had still been subject to strong emotions. A Paladin of her level was not, however.

The capacity for feelings was lessened as the black within a Paladin’s eyes grew until only cool, pure reason remained. Being devoid of violent emotions kept one from making rash decisions in battle or giving in to hysteria. At the moment K was grateful for the cool nothingness she felt within. That and her training were the only things that kept her from leaping off the table she found herself on and running from the room in a blind panic.

K took a deep breath and tried to think steadying thoughts. The High Sentinel came to mind again, as well as the last words he had said to her. Her head throbbed as the memory came back in a rush.

“You appear to have everything in order, Commander K.” The Sentinel’s pale face looked up at K from the com-link on her wrist. Though he was a Paladin of the highest level he wore no skinsuit. He needed none—his eyes had been completely black since before K had been expelled from the artificial womb that had birthed her in the newlife center.

“I thank you, Sentinel.” K inclined her head to him, a mark of respect. “My squad is ready and the ship is primed to attack.”

“You have the Erian filth in your sites?’

“We do. Our sensors show a small party only and the ship has no weapons—they should present no major difficulties. We will board them shortly.”

“Good. Kill on contact, Commander. Take no prisoners.”

K raised an eyebrow. All her life she had been taught that the natives of Eros were evil, decadent, depraved. Why else were the Purists at war with them? But to enter an unarmed ship and slaughter all those aboard…

“Forgive me, Sentinel,” she said, trying to pick her words carefully. “But they are, as I said, unarmed. There would be no honor in the kills.”

“No honor except ridding the universe of more Erian filth. They must be purged in order for Purity to expand—
all
of them.” His eyes flashed in what might have been anger had he still be capable of feeling or displaying such an emotion.

K tried once more. “The pshalite mines on Midas need new workers. If we engage our hyperdrive we can deliver them in less than—”

“No!” His vehemence surprised her. “The Erians
must
be purged. They are debauched. Not even fit to be slaves. They would corrupt and contaminate all who came in contact with them. In fact,” He frowned slightly, a white indentation appearing between his black-on-black eyes. “I wish you to take special care, Commander K. You must not even speak to them or allow them to see your face.”

K felt a mild surprise at his orders which seemed extreme. “I will, of course, avoid contamination at all costs, Sentinel.”

“See that you do.” His eyes burned into hers. “I have great plans for you, K. You are the most promising Paladin I have seen come up through the ranks in too many cycles to count.”

“Thank you. I am most gratified by your trust in me.” K felt a mild pleasure and then wished she had not. A Paladin of her level ought be able to hear the grimmest news or most lavish praise without even a hint of emotion. Still, she would get there soon if she progressed as the Sentinel expected.

“You have earned it. When you return to Athena I think you will be ready to take the fifth level trials.”

Another faint surge of pleasure made her clench her jaw. “I had not thought to be ready for that for another two cycles.”

“Oh, you’re ready, K. You must be. We can wait no longer for—” He broke off abruptly. “Just see that you dispatch the Erians quickly and with minimal contact. Then set a course back to Athena.”

“I will do as you say.” K nodded again.

“Very well. Do not fail me, Commander K. Sentinel out.” His image flickered and disappeared with a faint hum.

K closed the com-link and stepped into the command area of her ship to look at the vessel on the viewscreen. It was clearly from Eros. The sleek pink sides made of gallixium, a metal found only on the fifth planet from the Prometheus system’s yellow sun, glimmered softly in the cool black of space. What it was doing here, on the far side of Minotaur which was mostly inhabited by ravenous reptilian beasts, was a mystery. But mystery or not, it was not Purist and therefore must be purged.

“Get ready to engage,” K told her pilot. “Our orders are to kill on contact and leave no survivors.”

The pilot turned, clearly surprised. “But, Commander. The pshalite mines—we were told that every available slave is needed.”

“You heard me, Six.” K gave him a slight frown to signal her displeasure. “These orders come directly from the High Sentinel himself. Purge them all.”

There was a faint murmur around the command area as the rest of the purge squad took this in. It wasn’t the killing that bothered them—K was certain of that. Paladins were trained to kill without mercy or emotion from an early age. Waste, however, was shameful and not in keeping with the concept of Purity.

At the moment there was a push for more pshalite, the mineral that fueled the hyperdrives of most interstellar ships. Rumors filtering down through the ranks spoke of a massive campaign in the making. Possibly one that would encompass the entire Prometheus system. K didn’t know about that—it was not her place to know. She only knew that she must follow the High Sentinel’s orders without question. To do anything less meant both dishonor and death.

“Four and Five,” she snapped at her gunners. “When we board them I’ll want you on my right flank. Three and Two on the left. One, you’re bringing up the rear. Six will remain with the ship as always and plot a course for home.” She nodded at her pilot. “Take us the fastest rout possible, Six. I want a straight line trajectory back to Athena.”

The pilot frowned slightly. “Your pardon, Commander K, but that will take us much closer to Colossus that is safe. Maybe if we were to detour and pass by Pan instead—”

“I said the fastest rout, not the safest rout, Six,” K admonished him. “Do you fear the giants so much you would yield to cowardice?”