Switched: Brides of the Kindred 17 (41 page)

“
Come,” Sylvan called, raising his voice to be
heard.

The door slid open
and the whole room suddenly fell into a hush. Standing in the
doorway was a tall Kindred warrior. He was a Blood Kindred like
Sylvan but he looked to be about ten years older with the faintest
touch of silver at the temples of his dark blond hair. His eyes
were an unusually dark shade of blue that was almost violet and he
had the broad shoulders and heavy musculature that was the
birthright of all Kindred males, no matter what their race.

“
Ah…” Sylvan seemed at a loss for words and Kate could feel
how uncomfortable everyone was.

“
What is it?” she whispered to Sophie, who was sitting right
beside her on the couch. “What’s wrong?”

“
That’s Commander Terex,” Sophie hissed back, barely moving
her lips and pitching her voice so low Kate could barely hear her.
“The one we were all just talking about. God, I hope he didn’t hear
us!”

“
Commander Terex,” Sylvan said, striding forward and breaking
the awkward silence. “You are welcome in my suite. Is everything
well with you?”

“
With me, yes.” Commander Terex strode forward and clasped
forearms with Sylvan. He had a deep, natural baritone voice and
Kate could see by the purposeful way he moved that he was used to
commanding others. No wonder he used to be the Head of the
Council!

“
Then is there trouble elsewhere?” Sylvan asked
him.

“
I
don’t know if you would classify it as trouble—more a favor I am
seeking.” Terex kept his head lifted proudly but Kate could see the
effort it cost him to ask Sylvan for anything. Sylvan seemed to
sense it too because his voice was oddly gentle when he
replied.

“
Anything I can do for you, Commander. You have only to name
it.”

“
Thank you.” Terex cleared his throat. “I have an old friend
on Tarsia—the planet where the Switch Kindred settled.”

“
Yes?” Sylvan asked, frowning.

Kate’s ears perked up and she leaned forward eagerly. Had he
really just said the
Switch
Kindred?

“
You mean the ones who can Jump into their mate’s bodies?” Liv
asked excitedly.

“
Yes, exactly. They used to have that ability before the
natives of Tarsia tried to breed it out of them,” Terex said.
“However, my friend
does
have
this ability and now, apparently so does his son. He has formed an
incomplete Switch with a female from Earth and he needs help to
resolve the issue. Help he can only receive here on the Mother
Ship.”

“
This is excellent.” Sylvan’s pale blue eyes were shining with
excitement. “Terex, do you see—this plays into the prophesy we
received from the Goddess.
‘An old threat
made new, Within silence grew, can only be solved, By one who Jumps
True.’
This must
be what it was talking about.”

Terex frowned.
“Forgive me—I fear I was ill and missed that particular meeting.
But it sounds as though my friend’s son is the one you are looking
for.”

“
Not only that, Kate just had another dream saying that the
One who Jumps True is coming and we should get ready for him!”
Sophie said excitedly. “And now it’s all coming
together.”

Terex bowed his
head. “May the will of the Goddess—no matter how
incomprehensible—hold sway.” He looked at Sylvan. “Will you fold
space and allow a shuttle to go and pick up my friend’s son? And of
course, the girl will have to be transported up from Earth’s
surface so they can consult a priestess together.”

“
Yes, of course—arrangements will be made at once. Do you
still have them up on the viewscreen?” Sylvan asked.

“
I
do, in the Communications room. But I can have the call transferred
to your own private viewscreen if you wish,” Terex said
stiffly.

Sylvan nodded
eagerly. “Please do.”

Terex spoke a few
words into a comlink in his hand. In a moment, the viewscreen
mounted on the wall of Sylvan’s living area flickered to life,
showing three people.

Kate saw a Kindred
couple and sitting beside them was a tall, blond Kindred male who
looked enough like them that he must be their son. She felt a jolt
of recognition and reached out to squeeze Liv’s hand.

“
That’s him,” she whispered in a low voice. “That’s the
one—the man I saw in my dream!”

“
Oh my God!” Liv whispered back, returning her squeeze
excitedly.

“
Greetings again, my friends,” Terex said. “This is Commander
Sylvan, the Head of the Kindred High Council. And this,” he said to
Sylvan, “Is my old friend Tarkov, his mate Melisand, and their son
Kerov.”

“
And Frankie,” said the Kindred Terex had introduced as Kerov.
“Francesca Benita Hermosa Rodriguez but I go by Frankie for
short.”

Kate frowned. Though
the voice coming from Kerov’s mouth was deep and masculine, the
tone of it was somehow light and feminine. Then he spoke again and
his voice changed into something that was unmistakably male.

“
Frankie is stuck in my body right now, the same way I’ve been
stuck in her body back on Earth,” he said. “We have an incomplete
Switch and my Sire and Mother believe the only way to end it is to
see a priestess in your Sacred Grove, Commander Sylvan.”

“
You are, of course, very welcome here,” Sylvan said. “In
fact, we have been looking for someone with your abilities for some
time.”

“
You have?” Kerov asked—only it was Frankie talking—somehow
Kate could tell although it was difficult to say how. “Why is
that?”

“
Apparently there is some kind of a prophesy associated with
it,” Terex said, frowning. “But to be honest, we do not know the
full meaning.”

“
Frankie and I don’t care about any prophesy,” Kerov said
stiffly. “We just need to be separated so we can get on with our
own lives.”

Kate thought he
sounded hurt—maybe the separation was more the girl’s idea than
his? She wished she could reach through the viewscreen and touch
him—she was certain her Knowing would tell her all about it if she
could.

“
We will send a shuttle for you at once,” Sylvan told Kerov.
“And Frankie—or whichever of you is inhabiting her body—must go to
the nearest Human Kindred Relations building.”

“
That should be no problem,” Kerov said. “I will make my way
there as soon as I awake. Frankie lives in an urban center that
goes by the name of Tampa and I have seen in her memories that
there is a HKR building downtown.”

“
Oh,
we’re
from
Tampa too!” Sophie gave a little wave which Frankie returned,
smiling.

“
Which part do you come from?” she asked. “I’m in an apartment
not far from USF because I’m getting my Masters there.”

“
I
got my nursing degree there,” Liv said, smiling. “Go Bulls! It’s
nice to hear from another Tampa girl.”

“
So…not to interrupt old home week but how does this work, if
you don’t mind me asking,” Kate said, speaking up. “Are you both
trapped in one body at the same time or sometimes you switch bodies
or what?”

“
If we’re both awake, I’m in Kerov’s body and he’s in mine,”
Frankie replied.

“
But if one of us is asleep, then both of us seem to migrate
to the body which is awake,” Kerov finished for her. “However, the
one who is visiting the host body is the one which controls
it.”

Kat gave a long, low
whistle. “Wow—that must make for an interesting time.”

“
It’s been a complete disaster from the word go,” Frankie
said, sounding upset. “I’ve screwed up Kerov’s life and career
completely and, well…my own life isn’t doing so great
either.”

“
I
did the best I could with your family and your ex-mate,” Kerov said
stiffly, clearly put on the defensive. “How did I know your
grandmother’s old clothes would make me vomit? But at least I
didn’t heave the contents of my stomach onto your
direct
superior.
”

“
Madre de Dios!
You
should
have
warned
me
that the ‘banquet’ you sent me to
would consist of blood jelly and raw bone marrow,” Frankie said,
sounding equally upset. “Which I was keeping down nicely, thank you
very much, until your
pendejo
boss
fed me slug ice cream! It wasn’t my fault I threw up!”

They continued bickering and Kate thought it was the oddest
thing she’d ever seen. Hearing both voices coming out of one body
was so
strange
.

“
Enough, please.” Sylvan raised a hand to stop the fighting. “I
can see that the two of you need to be separated,” he said quietly.
“Accordingly, I’m sending the shuttle to Tarsia Six at once. And
I’ll have someone standing by to welcome Kerov in Frankie’s body at
the Tampa HKR building as soon as she…er
he
can make his way there.”

“
The sooner the better,” Kerov muttered.

Frankie frowned. “I
agree!” She looked at Liv. “Hi, um, what was your name again?”

“
I’m Liv and this is my twin sister Sophie, our best friend
Kat, and Kate, our new friend,” Liv said, making the
introductions.

“
It’s nice to meet you, Liv.” Frankie smiled, and though she
was using Kerov’s mouth and face to do it, her facial expressions
were unmistakably feminine. “I was wondering if you could do me a
favor? Could you call my cell phone and wake my body up so Kerov
can get right over to the HKR building?”

“
Well, sure, I—” Liv began.

“
That will not work,” Kerov interrupted dourly. “I silenced
your communication device so that your idiotic ex-mate could not
wake me with drunken requests to know what I was wearing to
bed.”

“
Oh.” Frankie thought for a minute and then brightened. “All
right then, can you please call my best friend Lacy and have her
come over and wake my body up? She has a key.” She paused a minute
more and Kate thought it looked like she was having some kind of
inner monologue with the owner of the body she was trapped in.
“What do you mean you didn’t tell Lacy?” she exclaimed, frowning.
“She could have handled it—I told
your
best friend, Jorn and he was okay with
it.”

“
Yes, and then you used my body to kiss him!” Kerov
growled.

“
I
told you, I only did that because he’s in
love
with you. I wanted to let him experience just a
little bit of his fantasy because he was so nice and helpful. And
besides, it’s sad that he has to live someplace where he’s so
repressed.” She looked at Liv. “They’re all completely homophobic
here. You can’t even bump
chunnels
with another guy without everyone freaking out.”

Liv frowned. “Uh, bump
chunnels?
What does that mean? Because I have to tell you, it
sounds kind of dirty.”

“
I
know, right?” Frankie said. “But it’s really not. See,
chunnel
is this tall metal
hat—”

“
The sooner you stop talking and give your new friend Lacy’s
communication coordinates, the sooner we can be separated,” Kerov
interrupted in a grating voice.

“
Fine.” Frankie bristled. “I was just trying to
explain.”
She looked at Liv again.
“I
do
have Lacy’s cell number
if one of you has a pen to take it down?”

“
I’ve got it.” Sophie grabbed a portable tablet and stylus.
“Go ahead.”

Frankie rattled off
a phone number then frowned and bit her lip. “I’m just not sure how
you’re going to explain to her why you need her to come wake me
up.”

“
Listen, it’s no problem,” Liv assured her. “We all got body
switched with our guys some time back. So we know what you’re going
through.”

“
You do? Really?” Frankie looked at them hopefully.

“
Really,” Liv said. “It happened at a really inopportune time,
too. My poor husband had to give birth to our first
baby.”

“
What?”
Frankie gave a shocked laugh. “And I thought
I
had it bad! I can’t wait to meet you
girls in person. It’ll be wonderful to talk to someone who
understands.”

“
We feel for you,” Sophie said, smiling at her. “And we’re
anxious to meet you too.”

“
Don’t worry—we’ll explain it so that Lacy understands without
thinking you’re crazy,” Liv assured her.

“
Oh, thank you
so
much.”
Frankie clasped her hands together over her heart. Kate thought the
girlish gesture looked odd being performed by the big, male Kindred
body.

Sylvan had been
speaking quietly into a comlink as the girls conversed. Now he
looked up and spoke to Kerov on the viewscreen.

“
All right—we are folding space now and a shuttle is on its
way to you. Be ready to go as commander Terex has already given me
your coordinates.”

“
I’ll be ready,” Kerov said shortly. “Thank you,
Commander.”