Cursed Read online

  “What’s going on?” Charlie demanded, sitting up even though it made her head feel like it was going to split open. “Who are you people and why are you bringing me babies?”

  “Oh! Oh no, doll—you’ve got it all wrong!” The redhead began to laugh. “We just wanted to check on you because we heard you were hurt.”

  “And because we haven’t seen a new face around the Mother Ship for awhile,” the girl holding the black-haired baby said. “At least not since the stupid war started. I’m Becca, by the way.”

  “And I’m Kat,” the redhead said. “And that’s Mei-Li.” She indicated the girl with long black hair. “She’s our newest addition to the Mother Ship—or she was until you showed up.”

  “Okay…” Charlie looked at them warily. “That’s nice, I guess but it still doesn’t explain the babies.”

  “Oh these little guys? They’re all mine.” The redhead smiled proudly. “Their fathers are away for a little while so I pressed Becca and Mei-Li here into baby sitting duty. Having triplets isn’t easy—I’ve only got one set of arms.”

  “They’re adorable, aren’t they?” Becca cooed, tickling the black haired baby’s cheek until he gurgled. “Look, this one is Seeks War—because he’s always fighting with his brothers. Well, with that one, anyway.” She nodded at the baby with silver-white hair.

  “And this one is Makes Peace, because he somehow manages to get between them and stop the fighting.” Mei-Li indicated the blond haired baby she was holding.

  “Get it?” Kat asked grinning. “War and Peace. Cute, huh?”

  “Um, I guess so.” Charlie nodded at the baby with liquid silver eyes. “And who’s that?”

  “Oh that’s Shad. Short for Shadow.” Kat sighed and shrugged. “We tried to think of a more traditional Twin Kindred name but nothing else really seemed to fit him. So…Shad it is.”

  “He’s cute,” Charlie said neutrally. Normally she loved babies but these weren’t exactly normal circumstances she found herself in. “So…all of you were abducted forced to come up here for a Claiming Period and you just stayed here?” she asked, looking at the three of them.

  “I wouldn’t say abducted, exactly,” Kat protested.

  “I would,” Mei-Li said quietly. “When Six came to get me, it started a media firestorm. That’s why we’re in this mess in the first place.”

  “Don’t mind Mei-Li,” Becca said easily. “She thinks she’s the reason for the whole war.”

  “Well I am,” Mei-Li said earnestly. “If my father hadn’t freaked out…and then later when I ignored the message from the Goddess…”

  “You’re Senator Hastings’ daughter,” Charlie exclaimed. “I knew you looked familiar—your face has been plastered all over the TV for weeks!”

  Mei-Li sighed unhappily. “Oh dear, that sounds like something my father would do. He loves me but he’s not above using me for his ‘cause.’”

  “He started the EPB too—the Earth Protection Bureau,” Charlie told her. “I’m an EPB officer myself.”

  “Really?” Kat’s eyes widened. “Aren’t they extremely anti-Kindred?”

  “They are,” Charlie said, lifting her chin. “And so am I. That’s why I took the job.” It might be an unpopular opinion here on the Mother Ship but she’d be damned if she would hide how she felt.

  “Wow—is that how you met Commander Stavros?” Becca asked. “You were trying to arrest him or something?”

  “That’s about the long and the short of it,” Charlie admitted. “In fact, I did arrest him. Had him cuffed up and everything but he escaped.” She frowned, trying to remember exactly what had happened after Stavros had broken her bedposts and gotten away. Everything was still extremely fuzzy. “Then for some reason I guess he decided to bring me up here,” she said, shrugging. “Maybe he was retaliating—an eye for an eye or something like that.”

  “I don’t think it was about retaliation—he said you were sick,” Kat said.

  “We saw him bringing you in,” Becca added. “He was carrying you so carefully—wouldn’t let anyone else touch you.”

  “He was very protective,” Mei-Li said, nodding. “And you should know that they have the best medicine up here on the Mother Ship. Whatever is wrong, they can fix it.”

  “Fix it?” Charlie looked at them blankly. “I’m not sick. I’m just—”

  “It’s very good to see you, Commander Stavros. I’m glad you were able to make it with no problems,” a man’s voice said just outside the door to her room.

  “I wouldn’t exactly say no problems, Commander Sylvan,” Stavros’s voice replied. “What in the Seven Hells are the Dark Kindred doing in this sector?”

  “That’s a long story—too long to tell you now although I promise you’ll hear all about it during our special briefing,” the other Kindred replied. “But before that, I know you’re very anxious to get your female examined.”

  “She is not exactly my female but I do feel responsible for her,” Stavros said. “I brought her up here because of her severe pain and bleeding—though I could never find the wound or I would have tried to seal and heal it.”

  “You would, hmm?” Commander Sylvan sounded like he might be raising his eyebrows. “It sounds to me as though you feel more than just ‘responsible’ for her, Commander Stavros. You and I both know a Blood Kindred only heals his bride.”

  “I cannot take a bride for reasons that you must be aware of,” Stavros said stolidly. “But I do wish to take care of this female and heal her of her affliction.”

  “Very well, I’ll examine her. Can you tell me first what the symptoms of her illness are?”

  “A terrible stabbing, cramping pain in the lower abdomen/pelvis area,” Stavros said. “Accompanied by bleeding. She told me that this happens to her every lunar cycle and no medical personnel on Earth have been able to help her.”

  When the men had started talking outside her door, all of the girls inside, including Charlie, had instinctively gone silent. Now Kat broke the quiet with a stifled giggle.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered to Charlie. “Did I just hear him say he brought you up here because you were on your period?”

  Reluctantly, Charlie nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. I do have really bad ones from time to time but—”

  “Can you tell me anything else?” the Kindred named Sylvan was asking.

  “Just that the only thing that helps her during these attacks is medication which causes her to act completely out of character,” Stavros answered. “She was…under its influence while we were together in the shuttle, waiting for a safe passage to the Mother Ship. She was asleep when I brought her in but I am not certain if she will be completely, uh, lucid now or not.”

  Charlie put her head in her hands and groaned softly. Suddenly all of the fuzzy details her brain had refused to reveal earlier were coming painfully clear. The way she had flirted with Stavros in the shuttle, begging to sit on his lap, cuddling up with him… And kissing him! Don’t forget you laid a live one on him up there while you were snuggled up on his lap like he was Santa Clause or something, whispered a sarcastic little voice in her head.

  The metallic taste of blood in her mouth from the unhealed cut reminded her of how that particular kiss had ended. And a good thing too—if he hadn’t bitten her, who knew what kind of mischief she might have gotten into next?

  Oh my God, I acted like a complete and total fool! Charlie wanted to sink through the floor and disappear completely—just let the blackness of space take her away. Anything so she didn’t have to face Stavros again.

  “What is it, doll?” Kat asked softly. “Are you in pain? Having cramps?”

  Strangely, even though the muscle relaxers appeared to have worn off, she wasn’t. Actually, she wasn’t feeling a bit of pain. Well, not physical pain, anyway.

  “I’m fine,” she said, sighing. “Just having some regrets, that’s all.”

  Kat raised an eyebrow at her. “Regrets?”

  “Never mind. It’s complicate