Divided: Brides of the Kindred 10 (55 page)

“Oh, you’re right!” Di glanced at her
watch. “It’s almost time to get them to the Sacred Grove.” She looked anxiously
at Tess. “Will you be okay here? Think you can manage?”

“I’ll…be fine.” Tess wished she could
swallow the uneasy lump that had risen in her throat but she tried to smile
like noting was wrong. “You just…go on.”

“I’ll visit you on my next tour,” Di promised.
“Just lay low for a while and take it easy. After a few weeks maybe we can
figure something else out.” She nodded at the old fashioned bookshelf. “Maybe
you can catch up on your reading.”

“I guess I will.” Tess nodded and tried to
smile. She hugged her friend tightly. “Thanks, Di. I can see you went to a lot
of trouble to find this spot for me. I…I really appreciate it.”

“Anytime, honey.” Di gave her a squeeze.
“Okay, I’m going to scoot now. You just make yourself at home.”

“I will.” Tess smiled and hugged her
again. “Good bye.”

“Good bye and good luck. See you on
tomorrow’s tour.” Di gave her a swift kiss on the cheek. Then, after peeking
through the crack in the door to make sure the coast was clear, she left.

Tess looked around the kitchen and then
sank down into one of the too-large chairs with a sigh. The thought of
Goldilocks came back again.

“Who’s been sitting in my chair…eating my
food…sleeping in my bed?”

“Me,” murmured Tess.
“I
will be. I
guess I’m Goldilocks.” She sighed. “I just hope like hell the three bears don’t
find me out…”

 
Brides of the Kindred Glossary

AllFather
—the
evil head of the Scourge, a race that are the byproduct of a failed genetic
trade. The AllFather is one of the Old Ones and has the power to reach into a
person’s mind to harvest emotional pain and trauma. He lives for the
fulfillment of the Scourge Prophesy.

Ancient
Ones—
beings which live in the Deep Blue—the darkest and most inaccessible
part of the Rageron jungles. They are sentient but not related in any way to
the Kindred. Each Ancient One has two forms—a bipedal form which resembles a
human or Kindred and a beast form which can be deadly and they can change
between forms at will. The Ancient Ones predate even the First Kindred and
revere the
skrillix
plant, which they
guard jealously.

Bespeak
—to
contact someone mentally using a Think-me device. It is considered rude to
bespeak someone you don’t know intimately.

Beast/Rager
Kindred
—come from Rageron—a jungle planet full of beautiful but deadly
flora and fauna. They have dark hair, golden eyes, and hot tempers but their
most defining characteristic is the mating fist. The mating fist is an area at
the base of the Beast Kindred’s shaft which engages fully only during bonding
sex with his chosen mate. When engorged it swells to keep the Beast Kindred and
his bride locked together until she is completely bonded to him. This ensures
sex that is both extremely long lasting and multiorgasmic for both partners.

Blackness
between the Stars—
another name for the Hoard or
Grimlax,
an ancient enemy of the Kindred. These beings have no
souls and so are considered demonic by the Kindred.

Black
Planet—
a mysterious planet made of pure titanium dioxide where a hoard of
demonic beings live. These beings are always seeking new physical hosts and may
find their way inside an unmated male if he is exposed to shadow stone, the
essence of the Black Planet.

Blood
Fever—
a condition suffered by unmated females on Tranq Prime, the home
world of the Blood Kindred. Blood Fever or Burning Blood as it is often called,
is caused by a parasite living on the icy world that affects only women. The
parasite—found in the
fleeta
or blood
beetle—reacts with a compound in the Tranq Prime water supply to cause the
fever. Symptoms include chills, increased sexual need and the feeling of the
blood heating in the veins as well as increased coloration of the nipples and
sex. If the fever is not treated in forty-eight hours, it will result in death.

Once a Kindred
male has had a female’s blood, he forms a natural antidote to Blood Fever which
he can pass on by sharing body fluids with her. The most effective way to get
the antidote into the female’s system is for a Blood Kindred to bite her,
thereby injecting it along with his essence. However, it is also possible to
pass along the healing fluid through sex.

Blood Fever used
to be very common on Tranq Prime which is what prompted the cold, proud natives
to initiate a genetic exchange with the Kindred in the first place. A recent
vaccine has nearly eradicated the disease, however, and the original
inhabitants of the ice bound planet have little reason to continue the trade. A
faction calling themselves Purists are against any further trade with the
Kindred.

Blood/Tranq
Kindred
—are blond with pale blue eyes and come from Tranq Prime where ice,
snow, and arctic-like temperatures are the norm. To combat the severe weather
conditions, the Blood Kindred have higher than normal body heat with double the
human amount of red blood cells. They have developed specific biting rituals to
share their supercharged blood and take the blood of their mates during their
own version of bonding sex. They have a set of double fangs located where a
human’s canine teeth would be. These fangs do not develop fully or become sharp
enough to pierce flesh until a Blood Kindred is with a woman he wishes to mate
and bond with.

Bonding
Ceremony
—a wedding-type ritual which takes place after the Claiming Period
if the bride chosen by a Kindred warrior has allowed him to have bonding sex
with her and joined her mind to his.

Bonding
Sex
—the extra step a Kindred warrior takes to bind his bride to him
permanently during intercourse. For the Beast Kindred, it is the use of the
mating fist. For the Blood Kindred, bonding sex means sex during penetration.
Twin Kindred bind a bride to themselves by entering her and coming in her at
the same time.

Claiming
Ceremony
—a sort of engagement service that takes place when a bride is
first claimed by a Kindred warrior. He declares his intentions toward her and
she vows to obey the laws of the Claiming Period.

Claiming
Period
—women who are drafted are required to go up to the Kindred
Mothership and spend a thirty day “claiming period” with the warrior who has
chosen them. If, at the end of that time, they have managed to resist the
charms of their Kindred mate, they are allowed to go back down to Earth and
resume their normal life. However, if they succumb to their Kindred male’s
seduction, they are mated for life and must move to the Kindred ship to live,
leaving everything else behind and seeing their family and friends on Earth
only infrequently. Of course, many women are unwilling to give everything up at
the drop of a hat, draft or no draft. But the Kindred have a secret
weapon—devotion to their female’s pleasure and attention to detail during
incredibly hot sex.

Claming
Period Rules
—The Claiming Period lasts for four weeks during which the
Kindred warrior attempts to seduce his chosen bride and she tries to resist
him:

The Holding Week
:
the Kindred warrior may hold his bride.

The Bathing Week
:
the warrior and his bride bathe together and he is allowed to
massage her with scented oils and make her come.

The Tasting Week
:
the warrior is allowed to perform oral sex on his bride.

The Bonding Week
:
sex is allowed but it is completely up to the bride whether she
will take things a step further and allow bonding sex which is a special and
specific process to the three different types of Kindred males. (Most women
have given in well before this point but a few do resist.)

The only way out before the
claiming period is up is a breach of contract. This can happen if the Kindred
warrior does not strictly follow the rules and tries to skip forward in the
order of allowed events or by breaking one of the rules laid down by the
Kindred High Council. These rules—mostly to do with restrictions on
communication with Earth—are for the safety of everyone aboard the Mothership
and are nonnegotiable. Ignorance is no excuse for breaking them and will result
in immediate termination of the claiming period.

Convo-pillar—
A
half inch long insect which resembles a brightly colored caterpillar.
Convo-pillars were genetically engineered by traders on the fringe colonies
around Rageron to translate alien languages by communicating via thought waves
to their wearer’s brain. They have been outlawed by the Kindred High Council
because their notoriously unreliable translations cause more conflicts than
they solve.

Deep
Blue
—the darkest and most inaccessible part of the Rageron jungles

Dream
Sharing—
occurs when a Kindred warrior’s mind aligns with that of his bride
and they begin to see each other’s day to day activities and memories in their
sleep. However, the alignment of the two (or three in the case of the Twin
Kindred) minds can take several forms and is not limited to sleep.

Dr'gin—
the
wild, ravenous beast that lives within a Rai'ku or a Rai'ku Kindred. This beast
comes to the forefront on a warrior's name day or birthday and is invariably
ravenous. It's first instinct is to feed and it will kill anyone in its
path—even if that someone is the female the warrior it lives in loves. On Pax,
the home world of the Rai'ku, the local virgins are gathered around a male who
is about to transform for the first time into his
dr'gin,
and one or more of them is always killed and eaten before
the warrior can change back into his other form. Sometimes this leads to
tragedy when the warrior comes back to himself only to realize he has killed
and eaten the female he loves.

Fireflower
Juice
—an alcoholic beverage made from the Fireflower plant native to
Rageron. It resembles milk in appearance but has the flavor of honey, vanilla, lavender
and blueberries.

High
Councilor
—the rightful ruler and defender of the Kindred home planet, First
World. Only the High Councilor may sit upon the throne of wisdom and see with
the eye of foreknowledge. Without a High Councilor in place, First World and
the rest of the Kindred race cannot be adequately protected against the evil
machinations of the Hoard.

Hoard—
an
ancient enemy of the First Kindred also known as the
Grimlax
or the Blackness which eats the Stars, they are evil,
demonic beings with ravenous appetites and a desire to conquer, devour, and
destroy every living thing in the universe. They are divided into tribes with
the lowest echelon being the most numerous and primitive. The elite or upper
echelon tribes are more sophisticated and intelligent but also much more
dangerous. They are notoriously manipulative and able to change their
appearances using a technique called “shadowing” to look like anyone or
anything they choose.

Kindred
—a
race of genetic traders who have traveled the universe for centuries looking
for viable matches to expand their gene pool. Since a genetic anomaly ensures
that their population is ninety-five percent male, they are specifically
looking for women.

The three genetic trades the
Kindred have already made have resulted in three very specific types of men.
But though they take on some of the physical characteristics of the race they
are trading with, the Kindred gene always ensures three things: physical
prowess, extremely large and muscular body structure, and undying loyalty to
the female of their choice.

Krik-ka-re—
a
Scourge tradition in which the mind life of one being may be traded for or
ransomed by another.

Kusax—
a
special knife made from the tainted metal at the core of the Scourge home
planet. One scratch can be deadly as it infects the wounded person with a soul
poison which ensures a slow, agonizing death.

Law
of Conduct—
the
Kindred law which
says every warrior is responsible for the good behavior of his bride and gives
him the right to punish her—within reason. Often the “punishment” is sexual in
nature and some brides become serial offenders simply to experience their
Kindred warrior’s particular form of discipline. ; )

Luck
Kiss
—a kiss performed by the best man and maid of honor at a Kindred
Bonding Ceremony in order to bring the happy couple good luck.

Mate
of my kin
—the way Kindred warriors refer to the brides chosen by their
brothers. It is analogous to the English term sister-in-law.

Marks
of Possession—
the Scourge way of marking a female as their mate. The Marks
of Possession include a close-fitting collar, piercings in the nipples and
clitoral hood, and a brand on the inner hip or the top of the buttocks. Scourge
with Kindred blood also desire to scent-mark their mates but they require the
traditional marks of their kind to really feel bonded to the female of their
choice.

Mother
of All Life
—the main Kindred Deity, a kind and benevolent goddess whose
teachings include respect and reverence for all things female.

Numala—
a
Blood Kindred name which means “liquid pussy.” It refers to a female who
produces more than the regular amount of lubrication when aroused.
Numalas
are much prized by the Blood
Kindred and sought after as mates because they are more likely to be able to
accommodate a Blood Kindred warrior’s larger than average cock.

Psychic-Knife—
a
torture device developed by the Scourge which is able to break the mental and
emotional bond between a Kindred and his bride.

Rage—also
Protective Rage or Berserker Rage—
a state of altered consciousness that
comes over a Kindred warrior when his bride is threatened. It floods the
bloodstream with endorphins and causes such intense anger and aggression that a
Kindred in this state becomes a killing machine who will die to protect the
woman he has claimed.

Rai'ku
Kindred—
a branch of the Kindred who have interbred with the Rai'ku, a race
known for having an animal nature called a
dr'gin
within that causes them to be exceptionally savage. The Rai'ku usually has
his first "turning", the time when he first transforms into his inner
dr'gin
on his name day or birthday.
After that, he can change back and forth between his human and
dr'gin
forms at will.

Sacred
Grove
—an area of green and purple trees that houses the temple of the
Mother of All Life. The Kindred Mother ship has been equipped with an
artificial green sun like the one on their home world in order to allow these
holy trees to grow and flourish.