Imprisoned Read online

  It wasn’t until he pressed his lips to the soft, warm surface of Ari’s shaft and heard the sharp intake of breath above him that he realized the boy wasn’t willing for him to continue.

  “Ari?” he looked up and saw an expression of pure panic on the boy’s face. “What—?”

  But just then the lights flickered a warning and then went out for the night.

  Ari stumbled in the darkness, trying to get away from the big Kindred just as he was rising from his kneeling position. She tripped on his foot in the darkness and fell forward against him, her upper chest pressing against his face. She felt a burning, stabbing pain just above her breasts and gasped, pushing away hard from Lathe.

  “Ari?” His voice sounded panicked in the darkness. “Ari, are you all right? I think one of my fangs—”

  “Fine, I’m fine.” Fumbling desperately, she found the door of the tiny bathroom and shut herself in it as fast as she could. At least it was light in here so she could see. Latching the door, she leaned against the small metal sink and took deep, shaky breaths, trying to calm the frantic pounding of her heart.

  She couldn’t believe the solid-holo phallus her look/touch projected had stood up to Lathe’s kiss. In fact, she still wasn’t sure that it had. She had always thought the holo pseudo-skin felt too slick to be real. Had the big Kindred noticed that it felt wrong?

  Lifting the long tails of the sleep shirt, she bent to study the part in question, trying to verify what Lathe had seen and felt.

  The fake phallus looked real enough, she thought. It should—when she’d realized what Lathe was intent on doing, she had turned the power to her look/touch up as far as it would go. She knew it would probably deplete her already diminishing energy supply but—

  The solid-hologram between her legs flickered. Then it flickered again and winked completely out of existence.

  Ari’s breath caught in her throat.

  Oh Goddess of Mercy, no!

  Hastily she reached up to her prison ID, registering only briefly that she had a bloody gash above her breasts where Lathe’s fang had scored her. She tapped desperately at the controls of the look/touch but with absolutely no results. Upping the energy to make the solid-holo look and feel more realistic must have finally exhausted her already limited power supply.

  Slowly, Ari faced the truth—the look/touch was completely dead and there was no getting it back. Her disguise was gone and now anyone who saw her naked would know she was female. Female in a prison full of female-hating murderers and rapists.

  Goddess above, what was she going to do?

  Thirty-One

  “Ari? Ari, damn it—open up!” she heard Lathe growling from outside. He pounded urgently on the bathroom door. “Ari, you have to come out. I think one of my fangs scratched you. Did it?”

  “O…only a little. I’m fine, really.” Ari was nearly panting with fear. What would the big Kindred do if he discovered her secret? She had seen how difficult it was for him to bring himself near her, believing as he did that she was male. He had forced himself to kneel before her and had even pressed his lips to the pseudo-phallus, preparing to take it in his mouth. What would he do to her when he learned that she had allowed him to endure what he would surely see as shame and degradation? What would he do to her when he found out she was a liar?

  “I hate liars,” growled his deep voice in her memory. And yet, how could she keep the truth from him now? Would he toss her out to Tapper or to the lashers when he knew how she had deceived him? Would he—

  “Let me see! I need to examine you now.” His tone was urgent and upset. “I mean it, Ari—a wound from a Kill-All’s fangs can be very dangerous. Open up and come out or I’m going to have to break the door down.”

  The folding door rattled on its hinges and Ari knew he would make good on his threat. It probably wouldn’t take more than a minute either—the bathroom door was a poor, flimsy thing, meant more for privacy than security.

  “All right,” she called, playing for time. “All right, just give me a minute, I’m coming out.”

  Panic tried to eat her mind, filling her ears with a blank, buzzing static but she fought it grimly.

  Think, Ari—think! What can you do?

  Well, for starters she really was going to have to go out. At least it was dark outside in the main cell area, she reasoned to herself. There was a much smaller chance of Lathe seeing her without her holo-disguise in the dark cell than in the lighted bathroom.

  I’ll just have to go out and try to only let him look at the part of my chest that got sliced by his fang, she told herself, taking a deep breath. Looking down at herself, she saw that the small wound was about midway between the hollow of her throat, where the prison ID was implanted, and the curving slopes of her breasts. Well, at least his fang hadn’t nicked her directly on one of her breasts—it should be possible to hide her assets if she was careful.

  “Ari!” Lathe pounded on the door again. “Ari, I swear by the Goddess—”

  Opening the door, Ari slipped past him into the dark and chilly cell. She made sure to shut the door behind her, leaving the room in darkness other than the weak glow in the corner.

  “All right,” she said, trying to make her voice calm and even. “I’m here and I’m fine. So if you’d just stop making such a big fuss—”

  But he didn’t let her finish. Before she knew what was happening, the big Kindred had swung her up into his arms and was laying her on her back on the bed.

  “Stop!” Ari tried to push him away but he wouldn’t be deterred.

  “Where is it? Where did I cut you?” There was panic in his deep voice.

  “Here? Here, all right?” Fumbling in the dark for his hand, she put it over the small wound on her chest. “You can examine it if you want. Just don’t…don’t touch me anywhere else, all right?”

  Lathe didn’t answer. Swiftly, he pressed his mouth to the small cut. First he sucked hard enough to make Ari cry out and then he lapped carefully and intently as though he was trying to seal the wound with his tongue.

  It seemed to take forever. The whole time Ari lay under his muscular bulk, her arms pressed frantically to her breasts, praying that he wouldn’t try to open her shirt or touch her anywhere but her upper chest. Her thoughts were a panicked loop in her brain.

  If he finds out…oh Goddess, if he finds out I’ve been lying to him…

  But when he finished, the big Kindred moved off her and sat on the edge of the bunk.

  “All right.” He spoke in a low voice filled with some emotion Ari couldn’t interpret. “It should be fine now. I just had to be certain you were all right—a wound from the fangs of a Kill-all can be deadly if the wrong kind of essence gets into your system. I didn’t…didn’t want anything to happen to you.”

  “I…” Ari didn’t know what to say. “Um, thank you,” she whispered. Balling herself tight, she scooted to the inner edge of the bunk, putting as much distance between them as she could. Up until now, she’d been keeping the look/touch turned on low to conserve power but she had always known she could turn it up again if she had to. Now that she no longer had that option she felt vulnerable—naked in a way that had nothing to do with clothing.

  “I’m sorry.” Lathe’s voice was low and rough. “Sorry if I frightened you.”

  “It’s okay. You were just…just trying to heal the cut your, uh, fangs made. I understand,” Ari said.

  “No, that’s not what I’m talking about.” He sighed and raked a hand through his hair. “I mean…before you went in the fresher. When I…when I kissed your shaft.”

  “Oh…” Ari’s voice was tight and tense. Had he realized somehow that her male “equipment” wasn’t right? Was he going to confront her now?

  “I shouldn’t have done it,” Lathe went on in that same, low, ragged voice. “I just wanted…wanted to be able to return the pleasure you gave to me today in the Rec Yard. But I couldn’t.” He balled his big hands into fists on his thighs. “I tried, Ari—the Goddess kn