Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) (7 page)

She hesitated, uncertain of the best
course of action. It was true that spraying the pepper spray might get Kristin
too because Randy would doubtless have no qualms about using the little girl as
a human shield. Mei-Li thought about lunging forward to try to drag the little
girl from his grip but she was afraid he would cut Kristin with the bottle if
she did.

“Let…her…go!” she insisted, trying to keep
her voice steady.

“When…I’m…ready,” he sneered, mocking her
tone.

“Release the young one.”

The deep, cold voice behind her nearly
made Mei-Li jump out of her skin. She saw Randy’s eyes widen in surprise and
fill with fear. She couldn’t help glancing back to see what could provoke such
a reaction in a hard man like Dungston.

And there he was. Six. Standing there
looking just as he did in her dreams from the glaring red light where his left
eye should be to the metallic left hand to the bulky black armor which made him
absolutely huge. He seemed to fill the whole living area and suck all the air
out of the room at the same time. Or maybe that was her, hyperventilating.
Seeing him in her dreams was bad enough—she’d never really expected to see him
in
person.

“Who’re you?” Randy sneered, obviously
trying to cover his fear with bravado. “Some kinda Robo-cop wannabe?”

Despite his tough words, he was clearly
shaken. So much so that he allowed Kristen to sag in his grip, giving Mei-Li a
clear shot at his face.

She was still pretty freaked out about
having the big Kindred from her dreams suddenly appear behind her but the
pragmatic part of her was screaming that she didn’t have
time
to be
freaked out. She could have hysterics later. Right now, she had a chance to
save Kristin and she had to take it.

Aiming right for Dungston’s eyes, she
squeezed the button and fired a powerful stream of pepper spray right in his
face.

“Agh
—God! My eyes!”

As Mei-Li had hoped, Randy stumbled
backwards clutching for his eyes. He dropped both the bottle and Kristin in his
blindness as he cursed and flailed.

Mei-Li ran forward to grab the little girl
at once. She was so focused on Kristin that she barely even noticed when she
sliced her knee open on a piece of the broken bottle. The pain was sharp but
her fear for Kristin was sharper.

“Kristin?” she said, patting her cheeks.
“Kristin, come on, honey—be okay. Please be okay!” She was feeling for a pulse
when Kristin coughed weakly, her eyelids flickering.

“Mizz Hastings?” she slurred, focusing on
Mei-Li.

“Kristin!” Mei-Li hugged the little girl
to her, a wash of relief sweeping over her. “Oh, sweety, you’re all right!”

“Get your Goddamned hands off my child,
you bitch!” Angry Mom was suddenly pushing her away. “You done enough damage
for one night.”

“I
did damage?” It wasn’t professional but Mei-Li couldn’t
help herself. “I
had
to come in because you let this…this
monster
back into your home and into the lives of your children.” She gestured at Randy
who was still pawing at his eyes like a wounded bear. Six was also still
standing there, looming over all of them but Mei-Li didn’t feel ready to deal
with him yet. She might
never
be ready to deal with him.

Angry Mom’s eyes shifted uneasily.
“Randy’s fine as long as you don’t go riling him up! If you hadn’t come in
waving your stupid pepper spray—”

“I don’t believe this.” Mei-Li shook her
head. “You’re still defending him? After what he just did to your daughter?
What is
wrong
with you?”

Angry Mom got a stubborn, hateful look on
her narrow face.

“The only thing wrong with me is that I
need a new case worker. And I’m gonna ask for one first thing in the morning!”

“Good,” Mei-Li said evenly. “You can call
and ask as soon as you get finished talking to the police.”

“The police?” Randy muttered. His eyes
were still streaming but he appeared to be able to see again—at least somewhat.
“I don’t think so. Fuck this shit—I’m out!” Keeping a wary eye on Six who was
still standing there mutely, he edged out the door and ran into the night.

“Hey, come back here!” Mei-Li exclaimed
but she wasn’t about to run after him. Not while Kristin and her little sister
were wailing and Angry Mom was shouting expletives at her. The noise in the
little house made her head throb and her sleep deprived brain felt like it was
going to burst. She looked up at Six angrily. “Why did you let him get away?”

“I didn’t come here for him.” He gave her
a long, level look from his one normal eye which was steel gray. “I came for you,
Mei-Li.”

Hearing her name in that deep, frightening
voice made everything seem more real somehow.
Oh my God—this isn’t a dream.
He’s real and he’s really here. He’s come for me—come to take me away!

The realization scared her to death—which
made her angry.

“Now, you listen to me,” she said,
standing up and limping towards him—God, her knee
really
hurt and she
could feel a warm trickle of blood running down the inside of her calf. She
wanted to get away from Angry Mom and her crying children before having this
conversation so she went into the small entry hall by the open doorway. Six
followed her obligingly. “As I was saying,” Mei-Li went on. “I don’t care—”

“You’re wounded,” he interrupted. Suddenly
he was kneeling in front of her, like a huge, black boulder that had somehow
lodged itself at her feet. “Let me see.”

“What? No!” Mei-Li protested, moving away.
“I’m fine—I’ll deal with that later. Right now I need to deal with you.”

“Very well.” He was still kneeling in
front of her so he looked up—not that he had to look very far. God, he was even
bigger in reality than he had been in her dreams!

Mei-Li felt disarmed, both by his nearness
and his apparent concern for her but she refused to show any weakness.

“What I’m trying to say is I don’t care
how many light years you traveled to come to get me,” she said firmly. “I can’t
go with you. I
won’t
go with you.”

Six rose slowly to tower over her again.
“And your reason for this refusal is…?”

“Did you see that man? The man
you
just
let get away?” Mei-Li demanded, poking him in the chest. She had to reach up to
do it since he was so huge but she managed just the same. The rational part of
her brain told her it wasn’t really fair to blame the big Kindred—apprehending
criminals wasn’t really his job. But she couldn’t stop the fury that rose
inside her when she thought of Randy Dungston getting away only to come back
and hurt Kristin and her sister again.

“I saw him,” Six said neutrally.

“Well he’s going to keep coming back—keep
hurting these girls until the day he dies unless I’m here to stop him! I can’t
go running off with you to a galaxy far, far away while he’s on the loose. I
can’t.”

Six gave her another long look and then
nodded shortly.

“Understood. I did not really come to claim
you anyway—I only wished to ascertain that you were safe and able to take care
of yourself.”

“What?” Mei-Li demanded. “Able to take
care
of myself? Why would you think I couldn’t take care of myself? Because I’m a
woman?”

“No. Because you are so tiny.” He frowned
at her—the first vestige of any kind of emotion she’d seen from him. “Look at
you—I could lift you with one hand and hold you for hours without tiring.”

For some reason the thought of being
lifted by him and held against that broad chest made her feel hot and cold all
over. It also scared her to death which made her mad as hell.

“Well, you’re not going to get a chance to
try that, buddy, because I’m not going anywhere with you!” she snarled. “What
you
are
going to do is get the hell out of this house and off my case
now!
Got it?”

To her surprise, instead of getting angry
and shouting back, the big Kindred simply nodded.

“Understood,” he said again. “It is clear
that despite your diminutive size, you are well able to care for yourself. I
will leave you in peace.”

“Thank
you,” Mei-Li spat sarcastically. “It’s really kind of you
to forgo dragging me off in your alien spaceship so I can get on with my
freaking
job.”

His one normal eye narrowed and there was
a soft whirring sound from the red scope where his left eye should have been.

“Be cautious, Mei-Li. Though I am not
subject to irrational emotions, I do not take pleasure in sarcasm.”

“Well,
I
don’t take pleasure in you
showing up when I’m trying to work,” she snapped. “Or showing up in my dreams,
making it so I can’t get more than a few hours of sleep a night and I’m so
brain dead I can’t
think
straight.”

“The dreams are troubling to me, too,” he
protested. “I didn’t cause them—I wanted them to stop. And I certainly had no
intention of coming to claim you, no matter how insistent they became.”

“Oh yeah? Then why did you come here?”
Mei-Li demanded recklessly.

He frowned. “I told you—to be certain you
were protected.”

“Well, as you can see, I’m perfectly
fine.”

“Yes, I see,” he said shortly. “And so I
will be going.”

“Good.” Mei-Li crossed her arms over her
chest. “Go back to your starship and leave me alone!”

“That is my intention,” he growled and for
a moment she almost thought he looked angry. Then his face became a perfect,
emotionless blank again and he made a short, stiff bow in her direction.
“Goodbye and may Fortune favor you.”

“Oh, uh…goodbye.” Mei-Li was suddenly
nonplussed. She had shouted at him and said things she normally wouldn’t have
said to anyone. Sometimes it seemed like she spent her whole life being
professional and polite. But the minute Six showed up, she just lost it. Mostly
because being scared made her mad but still…

She wondered if she ought to apologize but
he was already turning to go. He stepped through the narrow doorway, turning
sideways to fit his broad shoulders, and walked past the dirty rattan couch.
Despite the black armor that covered his body, he moved smoothly down the
sagging steps of the front porch although how he kept from smashing through the
rotting wooden steps with his massive black boots was more than Mei-Li could
understand.

That’s it then?
she thought as she watched him leave.
That was all I
had to do to get rid of him? Just tell him off and send him away?

It seemed ridiculously easy. Maybe
insultingly so. Probably he had realized that she wasn’t his type the moment he
laid eyes on her. One look at her nonexistent breasts and hips and he had no
doubt decided he had made a mistake coming at all. Her shouting at him like
Angry Mom probably didn’t help either.

Abruptly, Mei-Li felt ashamed. He had said
he’d only come to make sure she was safe. Was that really such a bad thing?
She’d been frightened and angry because he had showed up so suddenly and he
looked so big and scary in person. But really, he had behaved like a
gentleman—not at all like what she had expected.

What
had
she expected? That he
would throw her over one broad shoulder, caveman style, and carry her away? The
idea seemed ludicrous now. Instead of acting primitive and possessive, Six had
spoken politely, if somewhat coldly, and had gone when she asked him to. And in
return, Mei-Li had treated him like the world’s biggest jerk.

Manners!
whispered her adopted mother’s voice inside her head.
Where
are your manners, Mei-Li? That poor man came all the way from another planet
just to meet you and you snubbed him! What is
wrong
with you?

Abruptly, the guilt became too much. She
stepped out onto the porch and opened her mouth to say something but Six was
already almost out of eyesight—nothing more than a black dot in the night. As
she watched, he disappeared completely though Mei-Li couldn’t tell where or
how. He was just…gone.

There was still screaming and sobbing
coming from inside the house. Mei-Li was aware that there was a lot to do but
now that Randy was gone, Kristin and her sister were safe. And she just
couldn’t bear to go back in the shabby little house and be shouted and cursed
at any more.

Instead, she sank down on the dirty rattan
sofa and put her head in her hands. God, what a day. And it
still
wasn’t
over.

Well, at least you’re not being hauled
away in a spaceship to some distant world where everybody is half Terminator!
she tried to console herself. But somehow the fact that
her “claiming” hadn’t happened after all was small comfort. Mei-Li tried to
tell herself she was relieved but instead she just felt empty inside. And she
didn’t know why.

Chapter
Seven

Six frowned as he got into his camouflaged
shuttle again and started the engine. Mei-Li had really surprised him.

In every dream he had shared with her, she
had seemed frightened and frail—a timid little creature that reminded him in
her mannerisms of the furskins, the tiny half rodent, half mechanoid creatures
that scurried around the medical barges. She had seemed ready to run away and hide
at the very sight of him.

But though her tiny body looked frail, she
had hidden strength.

When the action began, he had been sitting
in his shuttle, far down the street and watching her watch the little domicile.
Nothing had been happening and he’d almost decided he would just go and leave
her when he’d seen her jump out of her vehicle and go charging into the place
she’d been watching with nothing more than a small metal canister in her hand.

Six had followed her in and had quickly
realized how dangerous the situation was. Mei-Li was confronting a male nearly
twice her size and making demands and threats when she clearly had almost
nothing to back them up. He hadn’t wanted to get involved but it was clear she
or the young one she was trying to defend would be hurt if he didn’t. However,
before he could do more than speak a few words, Mei-Li had used her metal
canister, which appeared to be some kind of extremely acrid chemical weapon,
and had rescued the young one without his help.

It had amazed Six to see her act so
bravely and decisively—like a warrior. Also like a warrior, she had refused to
be slowed down by her injured knee.

But it wasn’t just the way she had dealt
with the Earth male or her wounds that impressed Six, he was also impressed by
the way that the little female had reacted when she first saw him.

He had seen the fear in her eyes when she
first looked up at him and had expected her to faint or cry or act in some
other irrational, emotional way. Hadn’t the Earth female Tess warned him that
it might be so? Instead, Mei-Li had turned that fierce anger on him, telling
him that she couldn’t go with him and demanding that he acknowledge her ability
to care for herself. Reluctantly, Six had been forced to do just that.

She doesn’t need me,
he told himself as he started the shuttle’s engines.
Doesn’t
want me either.
For some reason the idea caused a kind of constriction in
his chest—a tightness that he chose not to acknowledge. After all, rejection
meant nothing to him—he had no feelings for her to hurt. In fact, he had no
strong emotions about the female he had come to claim at all. Well, except
maybe admiration.

He couldn’t stop thinking of how she had
faced down a male twice her size with no sign of fear at all. Her dark, lovely
eyes had flashed with rage and her long, silky black hair had whipped around
her delicate features. Truly, she was very pleasing to look at—if he’d had
emotions he might even had called her beautiful. Her body might be frail, but
her spirit was one of a warrior.

Against his will, Six found himself
intrigued by her. Truly, she was a female to be reckoned with. He wondered what
other surprises she had hidden beneath her demure exterior?

It was a pity he would never get to find
out…

* * * * *

“Well, it’s wrapping up in there. The
police have their statements—now it’s up to us to do the paperwork.” Claudia
came out onto the porch where Mei-Li was still sitting in the shadows on the
rattan couch.

“Great,” Mei-Li said tiredly. “Did they
say if they caught Randy Dungston yet?”

“Nope, but they’re looking for him.
Hopefully they’ll get him before too long.”

“Before he comes back to bother Kristin
and her little sister again, you mean,” Mei-Li said darkly. No matter how many
times they were picked up by the police and sent to jail, men like Randy
Dungston kept showing up, like bad pennies. She just hoped it would be awhile
before she had to deal with him again.

“Mei-mei, are you okay? If you don’t mind
me saying so, you look
awful.
” Claudia put a hand on her shoulder, a
concerned look on her face.

“Gee, thanks—you really know how to cheer
me up.” Mei-Li tried to smile but she found it almost impossible—the corners of
her mouth simply refused to turn up. Her head was throbbing, her cut knee was
stinging and she felt absolutely horrible.

“Seriously, what happened? I mean, not
with all this…” She gestured to the shabby little house where Angry Mom and her
kids had finally settled down. “I know what happened here. I’m talking about
what happened with
you?”

“You don’t know? Angry Mom didn’t say
anything about him?”

“About who? She was babbling about some
big guy but I thought she meant Dungston.”

“No, she was talking about him.
Him,
Claudia,”
Mei-Li emphasized. “He came for me after all.”

“He who? You mean—?”

“Yes, the man of my dreams.” Mei-Li
started to laugh but the sound coming out of her was more like a sob so she
choked it off. “He actually came—right in the middle of the mess with Dungston
and Angry Mom and all the rest of it!”

Claudia gave a long, low whistle. “Having
an alien from another planet show up in the middle of a domestic altercation.
That’s
going to complicate the paperwork considerably.”

“Paperwork? You think I care about
paperwork?”
Mei-Li snapped.

Claudia made a calm down gesture with both
hands. “Take it easy, Mei-mei. Just trying to lighten the mood.”

Mei-Li put a hand to her head. “I know.
I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. It’s been a long day and I’m just so damn
exhausted.”

“Of course you are, honey,” Claudia said
gently. “And I hate to ask anymore but, uh, what happened? If he came for you,
why are you still here?”

“He said he just wanted to check on me—to
make sure I was safe.” Mei-Li shrugged tiredly. “I guess seeing me shoot Randy
Dungston in the face with a stream of pepper spray convinced him that I was
perfectly able to take care of myself.”

“That
does
sound like a pretty
impressive display.” Claudia nodded thoughtfully.

“Yeah. Or maybe seeing my flat chest
changed his mind. You have to admit, this is
not
an impressive display.”
Mei-Li nodded down at her rumpled gray suit jacket and her white silk blouse
which had looked so nice that morning. Now they looked like she felt—like
they’d gone through hell. But it was clear to see there wasn’t much going on
behind them.

“Your boobs look fine for your size,”
Claudia said. “If you had great big ones like me you’d look ridiculous—like a
porn star. Besides, I’m betting it’s more the size of your balls than the size
of your boobs that scared him off. You acted like a total badass in there—I’ll
admit it even though it makes me madder than hell that you disobeyed orders and
ran in before the cops showed up.”

Mei-Li shrugged tiredly. “I had no choice.
If I hadn’t gone in to get her, Kristin might be—”

“I understand. I get it.” Claudia nodded.
“Now
you
get
this
—you were a major hero tonight. You saved a little girl’s life,
sprayed a drunk asshole with pepper spray, and sent the man who’s been bugging
you for months packing. So why the long face? You ought to be celebrating—he’s
officially out of your life forever!”

“I should, I guess. I just…” Mei-Li
shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“I don’t know either until you tell me,
Mei-mei. Come on—what’s bothering you? Give.”

“I honestly don’t know…” Mei-Li sighed.
“After he left I just started thinking about how…how
rude
I’d been to
him. I mean, I really let him have it.”

“Rude? Are you crazy?” Claudia shook her
head in disbelief. “This is the guy who’s been disrupting your sleep, scaring
you to death, and threatening to steal you away for months and you’re worried
you were
rude
to him when you finally got rid of him? Please!”

Mei-Li gave a broken little laugh. “I
know—sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”

“Actually, honey, yes. Yes, it does.”
Claudia looked at her firmly. “Now listen up and listen good—that man was
nothing but trouble and you’re damn lucky he’s gone. You’ll realize that in the
morning after a good night’s sleep. Right now what you’re going to do is go
home, take a hot bubble bath, and go straight to bed—in that order. And I don’t
want to see you in the office before Monday at nine AM or I will personally
suspend your narrow little ass until I feel you’re fit for duty again. Do you
understand?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Mei-Li gave her a mock
salute and tried to smile. She stood up from the dirty rattan couch on wobbly
legs and Claudia’s eyes widened.

“What the hell, Mei-Li? What’s that?”

“Oh…” Mei-Li looked tiredly down at her
gore streaked leg. “I cut myself on the broken bottle Dungston was threatening
Kristin with. But please don’t make me file an incident report—it looks a lot
worse than it is. Really, it’s just a scratch.”

“Looks like more than a scratch to me,”
Claudia said, eyeing her wounded leg critically. “I
should
send you to
the ER.”

“No,
please.”
Mei-Li clasped her hands
together pleadingly. “All I really need is that hot bubble bath you were
talking about and a Band-Aid. And about twenty hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Then I’ll be good as new, I swear.”

“Well…” Claudia sighed and gave her
shoulder another squeeze. “All right, get going. I’ll see you Monday.”

“Thanks,” Mei-Li said gratefully. “Night,
boss lady.”

“Good night, Mei-mei.” Claudia gave her a
sympathetic smile and went back into the house—doubtless to wrap up the case.
Mei-Li waited until she was gone and then kicked off her best court shoes which
by now didn’t look so good. Carrying the heels, she hobbled carefully down the
steps and limped across the street to her little blue car. Her wounded knee
actually felt a lot worse than she’d let on but she couldn’t face hours in the
ER followed by hours of filling out multiple incident report forms tonight—she
just
couldn’t
.

Sighing, she started her car and put it in
drive. Her own house was just a few miles away. She’d be relaxing in a bubble
bath with a glass of red wine before she knew it. And maybe, just
maybe
now that Six was out of her life for good, she would finally be able to get a
good night’s sleep.