Chained (Brides of the Kindred) (42 page)

Chapter Thirty-six

“I would speak to you,
Redan,
former second in command of the Clans of the Touch Kindred.”

The Swamp Witch was standing atop the tall stone steps leading up
to the huge round globe that housed the public forum building. Her voice rang
out across the streets where the people huddled, frightened of the male with
glowing red eyes who stood silent by her side. He was still as a statue and
covered from head to foot in pitch black dust that coated his skin, staining it
so deeply that his eyes seemed to glare from a face that was made of midnight.

“I would speak with Redan,” the witch proclaimed again, her
yellow eyes flashing. “I would speak to he who fathered my son and then
abandoned me and went to bond with another. He swore to love me always until I
was found to have what no female should ever have—a Touch Sense!”

Murmurs of awe and disgust ran through the masses. The witch
had assembled them all, swearing she would blast every building to dust around
their ears if they did not abide by her demands. Now they were a captive
audience, subject to her whims.

“Redan is not here.” Saber, the new leader of the Twin Kindred
came to the front of the crowd. “Say what you must to me, witch.”

“Or to me.” Reddix stepped up beside him. “Redan is my father,
after all.”

“And he is father to my son as well,” snapped the witch.
“Behold my lovely son of whom I am so proud. Gaze upon him well for his gaze is
death. He will blast you all if you do not produce Redan at once!”

“I am here.” An older male Kindred stepped out of the crowd.

“Father, no!” Reddix put a hand on his arm but Redan shook it
off. “It is my sin the witch calls out—my sin to pay for and no other’s. Leave
me, my son and tell your mother I am sorry and I always loved her.”

“You dare!” The witch’s yellow eyes blazed and she turned to
the huge figure beside her who was rumored to be a Shadow Demon made flesh. “Blast
him!” she demanded. “There stands the one who abandoned you—who abandoned both
of us! Blast him and suck his essence, now!”

The Shadow Demon’s eyes began to glow and he stepped forward.

Suddenly a new voice rang out. A lighter, feminine voice that
trembled but spoke resolutely nonetheless.

“Kor, don’t,” it said. “Don’t do this. I
know you don’t remember him but that’s your father—your real father. You don’t
want to blast him before you even get to know him.”

The witch turned round in a circle,
looking for the source of the voice.

“Who dares speak so? Who is it—show
yourself!”

“It’s me.” Maggie stepped up on steps, her
knees knocking but her chin lifted high. “It’s just me.” She looked at the
huge, pitch black figure and reached out a hand. “It’s Maggie, Kor. I need you
to come back to me.”

* * * * *

Maggie…Maggie…
For some reason the name sounded familiar.
Therron
(no, Kor)
whispered a
little voice in his head, tried to access his memories of the past again but
again a misty veil seemed to be drawn between him and that part of his mind.

“Ignore it!”
the dark voice insisted
.
“Ignore the girl! She is
nothing to you! Blast the old male and suck in his life essence. That is what
we live for!”

I…I don’t know…
Therron/Kor shook his head in confusion.
I can’t…I
don’t…

Suddenly a new voice spoke up inside his
head.

“Kor, can you hear
me?”
The voice was light and feminine and
familiar. The voice of the girl on the stone steps. She was standing above the
crowd, just under and archway of stone upon which all the names of the Touch
Kindred Forefathers were carved.
“Kor, it’s me—Maggie. I don’t know exactly
how to do this but they said we’re bonded. They said I should just think at you
as hard as I could and you would hear me. Can you? Hear me, I mean?”

“Do not answer her!”
roared the dark voice inside his head but this time, Therron/Kor
didn’t listen.

“Maggie?” he sent
back hesitantly. “Do I know you? You look…strangely familiar.”

“Do you
know
me?”
She sounded like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Yes, you know me! I rescued you from Lady Pope’nose! And then you rescued
me from the Flesh Bazaar! You helped me get my implant out. And…and we fell in
love. At least, I fell in love with you. Don’t you remember?”

Therron/Kor frowned.
“It begins to come
back…I called you some nickname—something to do with your hair…”
He looked
at the girl standing under the carved stone arch.
“Was it…curly?”

She laughed and shook her head.
“Blondie.
You called me blondie.”

“Oh, that’s
right…blondie…”

The memories were coming back now. The
dreams they had shared together…the way she had rescued him from the dungeon
and the verium dust…their time at the spa…finding her in the Flesh Bazaar and
easing her need…the way she felt in his arms…the sweet taste of her lips…

“Do you want to
remember something?”
roared the dark voice in his head.
“Remember
this—the way the little bitch left you! The way she turned away and went to
another male—back to her fiancé as soon as the implant you helped her remove
was gone and she had no more need of you!”

“Kor?”
It was Maggie’s voice again.
“What was that? Is that the
thing inside you? It’s a demon, Kor! You have to get rid of it! Have to cast it
out!”

Suddenly the dark voice spoke again—this
time from his lips.

“You shall not have
him, human female. He is mine! A finer host I have never had and I shall not
let him go!”

To Kor’s horror, he saw the bloody crimson
curtain drop over his vision and felt his eyes begin to get hot. The energy
built up inside him like a red shout of rage…it was about to explode and he was
looking right at Maggie!

She must have seen it too and known what
his glowing red eyes meant but she didn’t run away. Instead, she held out a
hand to him.

“Please, Kor,” she said in a low,
trembling voice. “Please…don’t you remember? You promised never to hurt me.”

Kor didn’t want to hurt her—didn’t want any
harm to come to her at all but somehow he couldn’t say so. He opened his mouth
but nothing came out—no warning would emerge because his vocal chords were
locked by someone else—by the dark voice, the demon inside him! He tried to
turn away, to point his deadly gaze elsewhere but the rest of his body was
frozen too—nothing was his own anymore.

No, not all of him was frozen—the bond she
had talked about was there. Suddenly Kor sensed it, like a thin, bright ribbon
of golden light. It stretched between them, connecting the two of them with
love and hope and the promise of a future together.

“Maggie!”
he sent, using the bond.
“Maggie, run—hide! It’s too
strong for me. I can’t control it!”

“Cast it out!”
she insisted, still not moving.
“Cast it out, Kor! You
can do it—I’ll help you.”

“I’m not strong
enough! It has me too tightly,”
he
sent desperately through their link.
“Please, Maggie, run before I—”

Just then he felt the shout of rage, the
explosion of power leaving him and a brilliant red beam exited his eyes.

A brilliant red beam of death aimed
straight at Maggie.

“No! No, Maggie—no!”
At the last moment, Kor managed to wrest a small bit of
control back from the demon inside. He jerked his head up, sending the red
beams high above her head instead of directly at her.

There was a scream of rage, both from the
demon within and the witch who claimed to be his mother. The beams of burning
energy shot high…and hit the great stone arch directly over Maggie’s head.

With horror, Kor watched as the arch burst
apart and huge chunks of carved stone came raining down. He saw Maggie look up
too, an expression of terror and shock on her face. Then one of the stone
pieces slammed into the side of her head and she went down in a crumpled heap
on the steps.

“No!
No!”
Kor’s vocal chords
unfroze and he gave a cry of rage and sorrow that was all his own. He had to
get to her—had to go to Maggie! For a moment the demon held sway over his body,
paralyzing him, keeping him from his beloved.

Cast it out,
Maggie had said.
You have to cast it out!

And finally, Kor found he could. He pushed
the dark voice out of his head and regained control. At last he was free to go
to her, free to go to Maggie.

The crowd of assembled Touch Kindred were
babbling and the Swamp Witch was screaming as he raced to Maggie’s side but Kor
barely heard them. He knelt on the stone steps and gathered her limp body into
his arms.

“Maggie?” he gasped. “Blondie—come on—talk
to me! Please, Maggie, please be all right! Please, I love you!”

She didn’t answer. Not when he called her
with his mouth…and not when he called her with his mind. Her eyes…those lovely
deep blue eyes he loved so much…rolled up in her head and a trickle of blood
leaked from the corner of her mouth. Her yellow curls were red, matted with
blood…so much blood and
he
had spilled it—it was all his fault!

Kor put a hand to her chest but he
couldn’t feel a heartbeat, he tried to feel for a pulse but his fingers slipped
in the blood and still she didn’t move…didn’t speak…didn’t breathe.

Maggie was dead.

Chapter Thirty-seven

“Maggie.” Kor pulled her close, cradling her
limp body against his chest. Suddenly a cry of anguish broke from his lips. “NO!
No, please! She can’t be…she can’t be…”

He couldn’t finish the sentence aloud but
the little voice in his brain had no problem doing it for him.

Dead…she’s dead and
you killed her! You killed her, Kor…you are to blame!

Kor bowed his head. He knew it was true.
There was no denying his guilt, no defense he could give—none he
wanted
to give. He had invited the demon in willingly, wanting only to forget his pain
and humiliation. He had given it free access to his mind and body, had allowed
it to control and command him and use him to terrorize and kill innocent
people.

And in so doing, he had killed the only
woman he had ever truly loved.

Something broke inside him with the
realization and a hoarse sob was torn from his throat.

It’s my fault—it
should be me! Please, let me die too. I don’t want to live without her. Oh,
Maggie I’m so sorry. No…no…no…

“Warrior, look up.”

The voice above him startled Kor. It had
the same supernatural resonance the dark voice of the demon had had but it was
richer, kinder and infinitely more powerful.

Standing above him was a Kindred female
with green-on-green eyes. They glowed a brilliant emerald as she looked down at
him, a mixture of pity and sorrow on her lovely face.

“Lady?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
“Who…what are you?”

“I am the Goddess of
the Kindred—I am
your
Goddess, Kor.”

“I…I do not worship as a Kindred for I do
not count myself as one.”

“Ah, but I have ever
counted you among my children.”
A soft smile formed on her lips.
“You have had a
terrible life—a life of hardship and pain since the demon took you from your
witch mother and sent you to live as a slave.”

He looked at her uncertainly. “The…the
demon did that? But I thought—”

“You were told lies.
The demon slaved you out, planning to give you the worst existence possible. He
wanted to make you incapable of anything but hatred and evil. In short, he
strove to create the perfect host.”

“Then he succeeded.” Kor looked down at
the limp form in his arms. “I killed so many in my life and then I invited him
in and let him use me to kill even more. I even killed the only female I will
ever love.” He kissed Maggie’s forehead gently. “Oh, blondie…” he murmured.

“No, warrior, he was
not successful. It is true that you are prideful and arrogant, quick to anger
and slow to forgive, but you are not devoid of love. Your treatment of the
little one in your arms proves as much.”

“Who, Maggie?” He kissed her again. “How
could I help loving her? She shared my pain—she risked her life to save me and
she’s so innocent and sweet and good and honorable.” He shook his head. “She
was right to choose her fiancé over me. I don’t deserve her.”

“And the fact that
you know this, has earned you a second chance,”
the Goddess said.

“What?” Kor looked up at her. “What…what
do you mean?”

“Guard her well,
warrior. And strive to repair the damage the demon did through you. Remember, I
will be watching as I watch over all of my children. Farewell.”

The green light faded from the Kindred
girl’s eyes and she staggered a step, one hand to her head. Suddenly a
warrior—the one who had called himself Saber—was there to catch her.

“Lissa? Are you all right,
amalla?”
he asked, looking at her anxiously.

“I…think so. What happened?”

“The Goddess spoke… through you… again.”

Kor jumped when he realized the voice was
coming from the girl he held in his arms. He hardly dared to look down but when
he did, he was filled with such joy and relief that for a moment he couldn’t
even speak.

“Maggie?” he managed at last in a low
croak.

“Hello, Kor.” She smiled weakly and lifted
her hand to cup his cheek briefly, then let her hand drop as though the effort
tired her out.

“Blondie…” He stroked her blood-matted
curls carefully. “Are you okay? I thought you were…were dead.” He almost
couldn’t get the word out.

“I was.” She looked up at him seriously.
“I was, Kor. But…the Goddess sent me…sent me back…for you.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” He crushed her to him—but
carefully.

“Hey!” Maggie pushed against his chest
weakly and he pulled back at once, giving her some space.

“Are you all right?” he asked anxiously.

“You mean after…being mostly dead…all
day?” She smiled as though it was some private joke. “I’m fine…really. But, uh,
what’s this
stuff
…all over you?” She nodded at the black grime that
coated his skin and clothes. “Smells…
awful.”

“It’s dust from the Black Planet,” Kor
answered. “The mark of the shadow stone. That was where the demon wanted me to
go all along—so it could take me over.”

“It indwelled you,” Maggie whispered. “But
it couldn’t…couldn’t take over completely. Because we’re bonded, you and I.”

“So you said.” He smiled at her. “And I’m
damn grateful for it too. Without that bond I would never have had the power to
break free of the damn thing.” He cleared his throat. “So this bond…does it
mean I don’t have to worry about
Donald
anymore?”

Maggie groaned weakly. “No, you don’t have
to…worry about him. Don’t…get me started.”

“She is yet weak, warrior.” The Kindred
girl called Lissa who had hosted the Goddess touched him lightly on the
shoulder. “And this mob is angry with you, despite the fact that Saber is
trying to calm them down.” She nodded at the people gathered in the square,
many of which were glaring at Kor—not that he could blame them.

He nodded. “I want to repair the damage I
did if I can, but right now I need to take Maggie someplace safe.”

“I think it best you both go back to the
Kindred Mother Ship,” Lissa said. “Come, I have a shuttle waiting for you and I
will call and instruct the ship to fold space at once.”

Kor smiled and gathered Maggie into his
arms. “Well, blondie, looks like you’re going to be home in time for dinner
again.”

“Yes.” She smiled softly. “But this
time…I’ve got the right guy to come home to—you.”

“That you do.” Kor kissed her. “And I’m
never letting you go.”