15 Targeted (60 page)

“Set my
Kit’tara
free?” Even as she spoke, Emily could feel the
other
shifting restlessly inside her. “Now I
know
I’m not eating any more.”

“These foods will feed your inner goddess.” Turra frowned disapprovingly. “It is to your benefit to eat as much as you can of each dish.”

“I have,” Emily said. “I can honestly say I couldn’t eat another bite.” She sighed. “Look, I’m really very tired. Do you think I could have a little time to myself to relax now?”

“We are your attendants and so we cannot leave you alone,” Lit’aal explained quietly. “But if you are tired, why do you not take a bath in the Juice of Refreshment?” She nodded at the round, sunken pool covered in the floating white blossoms.

“That
does
look wonderfully refreshing,” Emily said, hopping up quickly. From the look on Turra’s face, the priestess would have liked to feed her several more helpings of the disgusting feast and Emily wasn’t up for that. The idea of a bath seemed like a welcome distraction.

She went over and looked into the pool—the most delicious scent rose from it—something like pink grapefruit mixed with passion fruit mixed with strawberries. The surface was completely covered in the delicate white floating blossoms which made it look like something out of a romantic movie. All it needed were a few tall, vanilla scented pillar candles to be a total romance trope. Emily liked it—a
lot
.

“This looks great.” She turned back to Turra and Lit’aal who were standing behind her, watching her. “Look, I know you guys are supposed to stay with me but do you mind giving me just a little privacy to undress and get in the pool?”

“Assuredly,
Khalla-to-be.”
As one, they turned to put their backs to her and waited patiently.

“Thank you.” Emily slipped out of the long green gown and the lighter green top that went with it. To her relief, she saw that both her nectar and her honey seemed to have stopped flowing—at least for now. She didn’t have the urgency between her legs or the fullness in her breasts either so maybe all that business was over. Possibly Tragar had cured her of it with the wonderful orgasms he’d given her the night before?

Just thinking of the big Kindred made her feel homesick for his arms. It was strange, she hadn’t even know him that long. But to Emily, it felt like they had been somehow connected all their lives and had only found each other recently. She felt right when she was with him…and wrong when she wasn’t. Would she get to see him soon? She certainly hoped so. And if Mother Chundra thought she was going to accept anyone else as her chosen mate, she was sadly mistaken.

Folding her clothes neatly, she walked to the edge of the tub and sat down to stick her feet in first. The liquid in the tub wasn’t very hot but it had a soothing, silky feel that Emily liked. Careful not to slip, she lowered herself with a deep sigh down into the “Juice of Refreshment” as Lit’aal had called it.

The two priestesses were both still standing with their backs to her, waiting patiently.

“It’s all right,” Emily told them, sinking lower so that the floating blossoms covered her breasts. “I’m decent now. Well—sort of.”

Turra and Lit’aal turned around and came to the edge of the pool.

“We are glad you find your bath enjoyable, at least,
Khalla-to-be,”
Turra said, a bit snippily, Emily thought.

“It’s really nice,” she said, smiling. She felt bad about not eating any more of the feast but really, how
could
she? She could still taste the sweet, rancid hamburger flavor at the back of her throat and she really wished she couldn’t. “Um, why do you call it the Juice of Refreshment?” she asked, trying to change the subject. “Is it some kind of juice you put in the bath water?”

“There is no water in the tub—the liquid you are bathing in is the pulped remains of ten thousand
sithra
fruits,” Lit’aal said.

“Really? So I’m actually taking a bath in juice?” Emily frowned, swishing her arms around in the liquid. She wished there weren’t so many flower blossoms floating on the water—they looked soft but they kept scratching and pinching her arms and back and breasts as she moved.

“Indeed you are,
Khalla-to-be,”
Turra said smoothly. “First the entire harvest of
sithra
fruits is gathered from trees found only in the Deep Blue, just for this purpose. Then they are put in a huge pit in the ground under direct sunlight and left to ripen and decay for many days.”

“They are? They just let them rot?” Suddenly Emily wasn’t quite so sure about the refreshing bath.

“After they sit long enough, their inner succulence begins to seep out—it sweats through the purple skin of the
sithra
fruit and forms gray droplets on the outer, waxy layer. Soon after the
zetze
flies come to lay their eggs in the ripened fruit. Once they hatch and their maggots begin to squirm to the surface the fruits are ready to be pulped and strained,” Turra continued.

“Did you say
maggots?
” Emily swallowed hard. “There are
maggots
in here?”

“Only their pulped remains,” Turra assured her, as if that would make her feel better. “They are necessary to keep the
lisix
alive until the
Khalla-to-be
steps into the tub and its true nourishment can begin.”

“The what?” Emily was feeling worse and worse about the lovely-looking bath. “What did you say needs nourishment?”

Just then something moved beneath the surface of the liquid. It slid against her leg, long and firm and slimy.

“Ahh!” Emily gasped and jumped, sloshing pinkish liquid over the side of the tub. “What the—there’s something in here!” she exclaimed. “I swear I just felt something brush my leg!”

“Naturally,
Khalla-to-be,”
Turra said. “It is the
lisix,
as I said.”

“A
lisix?”
Emily’s heart was pounding. “What the hell is a
lis—”

But before she could finish the word, the slimy thing was back and this time it didn’t just brush against her. This time it wrapped a long, oily tentacle around her calf and foot and began to
suck
.

Emily shrieked and attempted to hoist herself out of the water but the thing clinging to her foot was surprisingly strong and didn’t want to let her go. Still, she managed to scramble most of the way out of the slippery sunken tub. Her frantic movements disarranged the floating white blossoms and for the first time she could see down into the semi-transparent pinkish liquid. Something was clinging to her foot—something black and slimy with huge blue warts growing all over its body. The warts seemed to pulse as it sucked at her skin. It was wrapped around her like a giant leech and it didn’t show any signs of letting go.

Turra and Lit’aal were kneeling by the side of the tub now, watching her anxiously.

“Help me!” Emily begged them, reaching out a hand. “Help me,
please!
It’s eating me alive—
help!”

But to her dismay and disbelief, instead of grabbing her hand and pulling her out, Turra started trying to push her back in!

“Be calm,
Khalla-to-be,”
she said and there was a steely glint in her green eyes. “The
lisix
is not trying to eat you—it is simply trying to purify you by sucking the toxins out of your skin.”

“I don’t care what you say, I don’t want it on me!” Emily had had a horror of leeches since she was a child and had gotten one on her while swimming in a lake with her sister. And what the hell was this thing on her foot if not a giant, blue-warted leech?

“Be calm,” Turra insisted. “You must relax and let it cover every inch of you in order for all your toxins to be released.”

“Cover every inch of me?” Emily stared at her in horror. “No—
no!
Get it off me
now!”
She appealed to Lit’aal who was biting her lip in obvious agitation. “Help me—
please!”

The little priestess appeared to reach some kind of decision.

“All right, here!” She grabbed Emily’s seeking hand and began helping her to get out of the sloshing liquid.

“What are you doing, Lit’aal?” Turra, who was still trying to push Emily back in the tub demanded. “Mother Chundra said we were to feed her the feast and bathe her thoroughly. We have already failed at one task—if we fail at both the consequences will be severe!”

“I don’t care—she’s in distress.” Lit’aal’s indigo eyes flashed. “We cannot allow her to harm herself through fear. Stop pushing, Turra and help me get her out!”

At last, with poor grace, the taller priestess hooked one arm under Emily’s and started to pull instead of pushing. With the extra help, Emily slid out of the tub even though the weird slug thing was still clinging to her calf and foot.

“Get it off me,” she begged brokenly. “Please, just get it
off!”

“That may not be easy,” Turra said grimly. “The
lisix
has been fasting many months, waiting for a
Khalla-to-be
to feed it. It will not wish to leave you until it has cleaned every bit of your skin.”

Emily felt the
other
rushing to the front of her mind but this time she welcomed her. She could feel her eyes burning and the voice that left her mouth was full of commanding authority.

“I don’t
want
it all over my skin. Get it off
now
or suffer the consequences!
”

Both Lit’aal and Turra looked shaken.

“Yes,
Khalla—
at once!” Lit’aal leaned over her and began prying the slippery, black creature away from Emily’s leg and foot. Turra helped too, although she didn’t exactly look happy about it. After a few minutes of frantic pulling and yanking, they at last managed to peel the
lisix
off her and toss it back into the bathtub. It left a red mark on her skin but at least there didn’t seem to be any bleeding.

Emily dragged herself a few feet away from the slippery edge and collapsed, panting. Her heart was going at what felt like a million miles a minute and the breath was tearing in her throat. Her stomach was clenched like a fist and she was afraid all the awful food she’d just eaten was going to come rushing up at any moment.

“
Khalla-to-be,
are you well?” Lit’aal asked timidly, coming over to give her a towel.

“
No.”
Emily wrapped the towel around herself with shaking hands. “God, that was
horrible—
like something out of a horror movie! Why didn’t you warn me that…that
thing
was in the tub?”

“That
thing
is a rare and exotic
lisix,”
Turra said in a cold, angry voice. “It was brought here especially for
your
benefit that you might be purified before the Choosing Ceremony. Do you know how important the toxin removal treatment is? If you do not complete it, you will not be considered clean by the candidates who wish to become your chosen mate.”