Brides of the Kindred Volume One Read online

  Summoning all the natural Scourge rage that lay within him, just below the surface of his psyche, Xairn stopped the power flowing out of him. Then, with a strength born of desperation, he snapped the fragile chain of human DNA within himself, allowing the floodgates of his true identity to surge forward.

  Immediately his eyes burned and he was flooded with power. With it came cruelty, possessiveness, and a lust he knew he would never be able to control. A monster, he thought as the Scourge impulses rushed through his body like a wildfire, devouring all that was good. I am truly a monster now. He looked down at his hand, holding the cryo-knife. No longer was his skin a smooth, even tan. It had reverted to its natural color of pale, pearlescent gray. Xairn knew without looking that his eyes had gone back to their normal red-on-black as well. He was Scourge again—through and through. There were other things to worry about at the present, however. Such as what to do to his father.

  “Xairn?” The AllFather was looking at him uncertainly. “My ssson? How have you changed?”

  “I told you before that I am your son no longer.” Xairn heard the coldness in his own voice as he got to his feet. He raised the cryo-knife. “You have only yourself to blame for that.”

  “Ssstop!” The AllFather’s voice crackled with authority and Xairn felt him put out a tendril of power, but it had no effect on him. Instinctively, he grabbed the power, reaching out with a part of himself he had never known he possessed until now. The part was like a greedy, hungry hand. It pushed out from the center of his chest and grasped for life—any life—to feed its monstrous appetite. Once it latched on to the power coming from the AllFather, it began to grow, to suck in his energy and life force.

  “How do you like it, Father?” Xairn asked coldly, as he felt the force inside him begin to grow, even as his father’s power diminished. “How does it feel to be the one who is drained?”

  “No!” The AllFather’s eyes were red-on-black again but instead of crimson, his irises were a pale, rusty red. They looked faded somehow and his already pale skin began to grow ashen.

  Because of me, Xairn thought coldly. Because I’m draining him, killing him. The thought didn’t cause any pain or remorse. The more power he drew from his father, the less he felt. The less he cared. And the more he wanted.

  “Ssstop!” the AllFather wheezed, sinking to his knees. “It was a test, don’t you sssee? Only a test, my ssson. And you have passed it. You are fit to rule with me, by my ssside. Please…no…” He fell over, onto his side, his mouth open in soundless screams but still Xairn drained him. Still the hungry hand grasped for more…

  “My son, stop!”

  At first Xairn thought it was some trick his father was playing but the voice he heard now was soft and feminine and there was no hissing in its tone.

  “Stop,” the voice cried again. “Do not take any more of his essence into yourself. Inhaling his evil will taint your soul!”

  Looking up, he saw a feminine face pressed to the bars of the cage. It was the same face he remembered seeing over and over again in the visions his father had shown him. The sight of it—of her—nearly stopped his heart. It had begun to feel like a fist of solid ice in his chest but now it throbbed painfully inside him, as if to say that it wasn’t quite frozen yet.

  “Mother?” he asked, stepping around the fallen body of the AllFather. “Is it you? Really you?”

  “Oh Xairn. My baby.” She pressed her face to the bars of the cage and reached out to him with both arms.

  Xairn came to her slowly, walking on legs that felt like dry sticks. Mother…my mother… Strangely, she looked exactly as he had seen her in the visions. Her long brownish-black hair wasn’t streaked with grey and her face was unlined—untouched by age.

  “Mother,” he whispered again, falling to his knees beside her and taking her outstretched hands. “How…why…I thought you were dead. Why did I never see you? Where did he keep you?”

  “Your father held me in stasis—never aging, never changing. He has a stasis tube in one of the emergency life pods—that was where he kept me.” Her eyes were bright with tears. “He wanted my pain to remain fresh—the pain of losing you. Oh Xairn, my baby, to me it was only yesterday that you were torn from my arms. And now you’re a fully grown male. I can hardly believe it.”

  “Mother…” Suddenly he could stand to see her caged no longer. “Hold on,” he said, looking for the lock. “I’ll get you out of here. I’ve come to take you home.”

  “Oh Xairn…” She let out a half sob as he found the locking mechanism and plunged the cryo-knife into it. The lock froze and shattered into a thousand pieces. Headless of the shrapnel, Xairn dragged open the door to the cage. “Come out.”

  “My son. How I have longed to hold you just once more.” Stiffly, she made her way out of the cramped confines and fell into his arms. Xairn pulled her close at once, crushing her to him, pressing his face to her hair and breathing her in.

  “Mother,” he whispered. “All my life I have longed for you.”

  “I’m sorry. So sorry.” She sobbed against him and Xairn tried to hold her more gently. She felt fragile in his arms, as though she might break into a thousand pieces like the lock had.

  He took a deep breath and tried to calm the painful throbbing of his heart. Not frozen now—his mother’s love had melted it completely. “It’s all right now,” he whispered. “I’ll take you someplace safe. You’ll never have to worry about anything again. I’ll provide for you, care for you—”

  “No, my son.” Her voice sounded strange in his ears and he pulled back to look at her.

  “Why not?”

  “I won’t live that long. Look.” She indicated her face and Xairn saw to his horror that her formerly smooth skin was now lined with wrinkles. As he watched, more lines encroached, etching themselves into her lovely features, turning her old and haggard. Streaks of silver grew in her hair and her hands grew withered and gnarled.

  “Gods!” he exclaimed, panicked. “What’s wrong? What’s happening to you?”

  “The cage I was placed in was a stasis holder.” Her voice sounded scratchy and high, the voice of an old woman. “When I came out of it, my artificial youth was compromised. The years are catching up to me now—three years for every one I was in stasis. It is a deadly process—one I’m not strong enough to withstand, I fear.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Xairn’s felt hot tears spring to his eyes. “Why didn’t you stay in the cage? I never should have broken the lock!”

  “I wanted you to.” She raised a withered hand and brushed his cheek. “I wanted to hold you in my arms one more time before I died. I love you, my darling. Love you so much. Please forgive my absence from your life.”

  “You couldn’t help it,” Xairn whispered, his voice breaking as the tears came faster. “I could never…never blame you.”

  “Thank you, my son. I love you.” She smiled at him and even though her face was withered and old, he thought her smile was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “Tell me this at least—do you have someone to love you? Someone to care for you?”

  Xairn thought of Lauren. Of how he would never be able to go back to her now that his Scourge nature had reasserted itself. “Yes,” he whispered hoarsely. “There is a girl I love. She’s kind and beautiful. I…I think you would like her.”

  “I’m so glad.” His mother sighed tiredly. “So glad that you’re not alone. That you have someone to love you.” She shook her head feebly. “I must go now. Promise not to take any more of your father’s power—it leads only to corruption and evil.”

  “I…I promise,” Xairn whispered. “Mother, please don’t go. Don’t…don’t die.”

  But it was too late. Slowly her green eyes closed and her chest rose and fell once more. Looking at her, Xairn knew it would never rise again. She was gone.

  “Mother!” Throwing back his head, he howled his grief to the universe. Dead, she was dead! He had found her at last only to lose her forever. It seemed so u