Twisted: Brides of the Kindred 23 Read online

  “That was your first and only warning,” Malik told them. “Anyone who touches my Mistress will fry like a strip of bulka meat in a hot pan. Step…back.”

  Reluctantly, Nikki thought, the last remaining guards stepped away from the stage. Majestically, Malik descended the steps. He had been a slave on this stage only moments before—bound and vulnerable, a part of the show she had been forced to put on to please the Yonnite crowd. Now he looked like a king—a god—with his halo of lightning crackling around him. She was in awe of him as she followed him down the steps and through the suddenly empty area in front of the stage.

  “I had no idea how dangerous he was!” she heard one of the other Mistresses, who had withdrawn to the edges of the open space, say to another.

  “I know! Hellenix always said he was special but to think that he had this kind of power in him! He could have fried us all at any time!” her friend replied.

  “I’m surprised she dared to take him as a slave at all!” a third one chimed in. “He’s positively deadly!”

  “But he’s clearly devoted to her—look how he’s protecting her,” the first one pointed out. “He won’t let the guards lay a finger on her!”

  Which was certainly true, Nikki thought as she trailed behind Malik at a safe—but not too distant—distance. They passed right through the pack of guards and many of them looked at her longingly but clearly didn’t dare to grab her. Right behind them was Mistress Tacky Tangle-Skank and it was clear she was not happy with the proceedings.

  “What are you doing? Why aren’t you taking her?” she hissed at the nearest guard. “Isn’t she wanted by the Sacred Seven for questioning? So why don’t you grab her?”

  “You grab her, Mistress, if you’re so eager to get fried,” the guard growled, glaring at her. “Or did you not see that display her slave just put on? He’s a Volt Kindred—no fucking doubt. They’re deadly and I’m not fucking with him.”

  Nikki dared to give the fuming Mistress a coy little smile as they passed and something she’d seen on her teen son’s Facebook page suddenly popped into her head.

  “Bye-bye, Tacky,” she said. “Don’t hate me because you ain’t me.” Then she blew the other Mistress a kiss.

  Her little remark seemed to send the other Mistress into a paroxysm of fury.

  “No!” she howled. “Our whole lives, she’s gotten away with everything! It’s not fair—it’s not fair!”

  She was practically foaming at the mouth as she shoved her way between the guards and made a grab at Nikki.

  “Come here!” she shouted. “You’re finally going to get what’s coming to you—you do not get to win this time!”

  She had Nikki’s arm in a death grip and she was dragging her towards the line of guards.

  “Let go! Let go!” Nikki gasped, pulling back. But though the other woman looked skinny, she was strong. And also enraged, Nikki thought as she tried unsuccessfully to get away.

  Hmm, maybe you shouldn’t have teased her like that, whispered a little voice in her head. Maybe you made a dangerous situation a whole lot worse—you think?

  Suddenly Malik was at her side, looming over Mistress Tangle-Skank.

  “Let her go.” His deep voice was crackling with power. “I would never normally harm a female but if you don’t take your hands off my Mistress right now I swear you will regret it.”

  “No!” Mistress Tangle-Skank shook her head—her huge peacock’s tail of hair fluttering wildly with the movement, though it still remained intact and upright somehow. “No, she always gets what she wants—including you, slave! But not this time!”

  Malik looked at Nikki.

  “Brace yourself—you’re going to feel a shock but I’ll try to shield you from it as much as possible.”

  Before she could answer, he grabbed Mistress Tangle-Skank by the arm—clamping his big hand down over the wrist of the hand that was holding Nikki. Then he grabbed the elaborate headdress woven into her hair and Nikki saw a look of concentration on his face.

  Suddenly Mistress Tangle-Skank went rigid, the muscles of her face locked in the most amazing grimace and then she began to shake like someone having a seizure. It was a horrifying sight—made worse by the plume of smoke that started suddenly seeping from the top of her head—and the faint tingle Nikki felt in the arm that she was still clutching.

  The minute Malik let go, so did Tangle-Skank. She dropped Nikki’s arm and sank to the ground like a load of old clothes someone had spilled from a basket, her hair still smoking.

  For a moment, Nikki just stood there staring at her. Was the other woman breathing? She couldn’t tell.

  “Come on, Mistress.” Malik spoke urgently in her ear.

  “What…what happened?” she asked, as he took her arm and propelled her away from the guards who were beginning to gather around the fallen Mistress.

  “I gave her the smallest shock I could, but I think the framework in her hair must be made of metal. I thought it was some kind of plastic and would act to ground my power—instead it amplified it.” He shook his head, looking regretful.

  “Will she live?” Nikki cast a glance back over her shoulder uncertainly as they entered the lighted walkway that led down to the parking area.

  “I hope so—I would never want to be guilty of killing a female, even a Yonnite Mistress,” Malik said grimly. “But I had to get you away from her and she had your arm in a death grip.” He glanced down at her swiftly. “Did I hurt you? Were you shocked?”

  “Only a little,” Nikki admitted. “I just felt a tingle where she was touching me.”

  “I can only block it out a little,” Malik explained. “If we were bonded, you would have immunity to my charge but as it is, I can only offer you minimal protection.”

  “I’m glad you did,” Nikki said, with feeling. She wouldn’t have wanted to end up like Tacky Tangle-Skank, lying on the ground with her hair smoking!

  They had reached the ship by now and Malik helped her in quickly.

  “Well, I guess that could have gone better,” he admitted, as he settled himself, still naked, in the Pilot’s chair.

  “It could have gone a lot worse, too,” Nikki pointed out. “We could have been captured and taken before the Sacred Seven.”

  “True.” He nodded and sighed. “Well, for better or worse, we’re done here and we need to get out. It won’t take the guards long to get to their own ships—luckily Mistress Hellenix had a stealth mode installed on hers just last cycle.” He patted the control panel of the ship and looked at Nikki. “Are you ready to visit my home planet? Are you ready for Uriel Two?”

  Nikki took a deep breath and nodded.

  “Let go.”

  They went.

  Chapter Twenty

  Uriel Two had a pretty, pink, shimmering cloud around it that Malik assured her was completely lethal.

  Nikki watched in the viewscreen as the cloud—and the planet obscured behind it—grew closer. At last they stopped when the cloud nearly filled the screen.

  “I can go no closer—not safely,” Malik murmured, his eyes fixed on the screen.

  Nikki’s eyes were fixed on him.

  After they had hopped through a worm hole to get far from Yonnie Six, both of them had taken the opportunity to change—or in Malik’s case, to put on clothing at all.

  Nikki had on a long green gown which had flowing sleeves and panties to match. They showed through the long front slit in the silky green material, which seemed to be ubiquitous to Yonnie Six Mistress couture, but at least the gown (mostly) covered her breasts. Black, high-heeled ankle boots went with the gown as well as a black belt to match. The entire ensemble was considerably more comfortable than the tight black dress and bustier she’d been wearing at the banquet.

  Malik looked much the same as he had when she first met him. He was back to wearing the crotchless black leather slave trousers with a loincloth to cover his shaft. But he wasn’t wearing a chastity device anymore, so the curtain of black fabric covered bare fles