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  “It’s a tough call, all right.” Rast blew out a breath and ran a hand through his short golden brown hair. “But I need to let her know. I can’t keep taking her money when there’s nothing I can do.”

  “Hold off on telling her just a little while longer,” Sophie pleaded. “Maybe Deep and Lock—the warriors that are going tomorrow—will find out something about where she’s being kept or…or what they want her for.”

  “We might even be able to arrange for you to come up here to the Mother ship and talk to them after they get back in person,” Liv said, having an inspiration. “I could ask my husband to ask the Council for a special dispensation.”

  “I fail to see how taking a tour of your ship will help me locate Lauren,” Rast growled. “But I would like to conduct interviews in person rather than over this damn viewscreen.”

  “Let me see what I can do,” Liv said smoothly.

  “And in the mean time, can you hold off on telling Aunt Abby?” Sophie pleaded.

  Rast sighed. “I’ll think about it. As I said, I don’t like taking her money without doing my job.”

  “But you are doing your job,” Liv pointed out quietly. “You didn’t quit until you got answers about where Lauren is.”

  Rast got a stubborn look on his chiseled features. “Your aunt hired me to find Lauren and bring her home safely. Until that’s accomplished, my job isn’t done.” He nodded briefly. “I’ll let you go now, but I’ll be in touch. If you find out anything, the communications officer I spoke to has my contact information. Call me any time of the day or night and I’ll come straight down to the Human/Kindred Relations building to talk on the viewscreen.”

  Sophie nodded. “All right, thank you, Detective.”

  His face softened slightly. “Thank you for telling me the truth. Now we just have to hope to God that the warriors you’re sending find something.”

  “I’m sure they will,” Liv said, making a mental note to talk to Lock about it. Just because he and Kat and Deep were mainly visiting the Scourge home planet to get their “soul-divorce” as Kat called it, didn’t mean they couldn’t also dig for clues. She knew the light twin would take the assignment very seriously if she asked him to.

  Rast nodded once more and then the viewscreen flickered and went blank.

  “Wow, he’s really dedicated,” Sophie murmured.

  Liv nodded. “I can see why Baird respects him so much.” She sighed. “Well, the cat’s out of the bag, now. I wonder how long he’ll wait to tell Aunt Abby.”

  Sophie looked troubled. “Maybe…maybe we should tell her. It doesn’t seem fair to put that decision on him. And we are family.”

  “You were the one begging him to wait,” Liv pointed out. “And besides, I think you were right. Kat and the guys might find something worth knowing. If they could even get the exact wording of the prophesy, we might have a clue about exactly what they want Lauren for and where they might be taking her.”

  Sophie nodded reluctantly. “All right. I just feel so bad that we’re keeping it from Aunt Abby. But it still seems worse to just come out and tell her that the AllFather has Lauren without being able to offer her some kind of hope.” She looked at Liv. “Do you think if we can somehow prove she is aboard the Fathership the Council will approve an attack or some kind of rescue attempt?”

  “I don’t know.” Liv sighed. “That would mean full scale war which would probably have some serious fallout effects on the Earth. It’s one of those “the lives of the many are worth more than the lives of the one or few” kind of things.”

  “But Lauren is blood! She’s our cousin.” Sophie’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh, poor girl. I wish I knew where she was right now.”

  “Me too.” Liv gave her sister a comforting hug. “Me too, Sophie.”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  “The girl will have to be moved. Ssshe will come with usss to the home world.”

  “The home world?” Xairn frowned at his father, who was seated on the black metal throne etched in glowing green runes. He was surrounded, as always, by four enormous vat grown soldiers he’d had specially made for his own private guard.

  “Yesss.” The AllFather nodded, his shadowy hood billowing with the movement to reveal burning red eyes. They did not glow quite so brightly as they had in the past—since he had lost his primary source of sustenance, Xairn’s father seemed to move more slowly and speak with a little less vehemence.

  He is weakening before my eyes. Xairn supposed he ought to feel pity for the male who was his father but since he, Xairn, had been the AllFather’s main source of nourishment, he couldn’t find it in him to care. In fact, he cared about nothing lately—which was the reason the AllFather could no longer feed on his negative emotions. He had none.

  “We mussst go back,” the AllFather hissed. “There are facilities there to augment my power.”

  “You need more power?” Xairn kept his voice neutral.

  “Imbecile! You know that I do!” the AllFather raged in a weak voice. “Now that your pain no longer nourishesss me, I have only the vat grown to feed on. And their emotionsss are vague ssshadows—not nearly enough to sssustain me.”

  “What of the humans you took just yesterday with the beam?”

  The Allfather made an irritated gesture. “Too weak. They are already sssucked dry.”

  “I’m sorry you can no longer harvest my pain, Father,” Xairn said blandly. “Perhaps you should have taken more care not to destroy your primary source of sustenance.” When he had been forced by his father to kill his beloved pet, Sanja, Xairn’s emotions had died with her. He was empty inside thanks to the AllFather’s cruelty. Not that he cared.

  “Never mind. Sssoon I ssshall have no need of your pain.” The sunken eyes glowed a dull red. “My peak approachesss—the time when my ssseed will be most potent. I ssshall have more than enough pain to sssustain me when I breed the girl.”

  Xairn felt a flicker of uneasiness which he quickly extinguished. The human female was nothing to him—was she? Of course she’s not, he told himself firmly. “When will you reach your peak?” he asked.

  “Tomorrow—I feel it building.” The AllFather rubbed his skeletal hands together in anticipation. “Which isss why we must prepare to fold ssspace at once.”

  “The Kindred instruments will pick up our movements,” Xairn objected.

  “They would—if we were fool enough to fold in this sssector,” The AllFather said. “We will be taking the adjunct ssship sssome distance away and using a thinner fold. If they detect usss at all, they will think it a sssimple anomaly.”

  “Very well.” Xairn bowed. “When do you wish to leave, Father?”

  “At once, asss I sssaid. Have the girl moved and the adjunct ssship primed for take-off within the hour.”

  Xairn felt a dark impulse stir within his soul but he quickly repressed it. “And are we to be the only passengers? You and the girl and myself?”

  The red-on-black eyes flashed bright crimson for a moment. “Do you think me a fool? My guardsss will come asss well.” Reaching out, the AllFather patted the massive forearm of the nearest vat-grown solider. Though Xairn well knew how repulsive his father’s touch was, the huge male didn’t even flinch.

  “But the home world is deserted,” Xairn pointed out. “What need will you have of them?”

  “I may find a use for them.” Grasping the soldier’s arm more firmly, the AllFather pulled himself to his feet. “They will ssserve me well, won’t you, Alpha?” he crooned in his high, evil voice.

  “Yes, AllFather.” The vat grown male looked straight ahead, never blinking.

  “You sssee?” The AllFather nodded.

  Xairn shrugged. “As you wish. I will get the girl.”

  “Sssee that you do. And let her know what isss in ssstore for her. Tell her how I ssshall ssspread her legs and breed her.” The red eyes gleamed hungrily. “Her terror when I take her will be all the sssweeter for the anticipation.”

  For some reason Xa