Switched: Brides of the Kindred 17 (51 page)

“
Stay back,” Terex
growled, drawing his blaster. But he didn’t want to use it if he
could help it—what if he damaged Sylvan’s body?

Two seemed to sense his hesitation because
he laughed heartily.

“
Go ahead and shoot,
Commander Terex—what do I care about this one body when I’m shortly
going to have
so many others?”

Terex didn’t know what he was talking about
but he still wasn’t willing to hurt Sylvan who was an honorable
male and didn’t deserve to die just because another had taken him
over.

Throwing his blaster aside, he rushed the
other male instead, tackling him around the middle and throwing
both of them to the ground.

“
Oof!”
Two gasped as the wind was knocked out of him.

They grappled, Terex grimly trying to get
hold of the other male’s arms. He didn’t like to punch Commander
Sylvan in the face but he thought it might be necessary. It was the
only way to knock him unconscious and only then could Two be
extracted from his body. He—

Suddenly Two got an arm free and Terex felt
something cold and sharp stab him in the shoulder. Immediately, his
arms went completely numb followed by his legs and torso.

“
What in the Seven Hells?”
he growled but Two was already pushing him onto his back and
laughing.

“
Good thing I brought an
extra dose of the paralytic I used on your friend, Commander
Sylvan,” he said, grinning. “Of course, I didn’t inject it near
enough to your spine to make you go
completely
unconscious. A fact I’m
afraid you’re going to regret very much in a moment.”

“
Whaat?” Terex’s tongue
was numb too but he still struggled to make himself understood.
“But y…you’re
in
Syl…Sylvan.”

“
Oh—you mean you think I
was inhabiting him the same way Ur inhabited you? And
me
, for that matter?”
Two shook his head. “No, of course not! I simply
look
like him—it was a
long process to go through but it was worth it. Especially now,
seeing the realization that you could have and
should
have blasted me into a
million bits just now if only you’d known I wasn’t the real
Sylvan.” He laughed nastily. “Being ‘Sylvan’ has been very useful,
you know. Especially since his thumbprint and retinal scan are what
give me access to every area of the Mother Ship. Well…” He frowned.
“
Almost
every
area.”

“
You…you can’t…” Terex
tried to say but Two kept on talking.

“
Unfortunately one of the
restricted areas I need access to is the water processing
chamber.
That
particular door requires
two
council members to access it.” He cocked his head
at Terex, a cruel smile twisting Sylvan’s familiar features.
“Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t
you
a Council member, my dear
Terex?”

“
You bastard,” Terex
growled as Two approached him. He tried to get off the floor, tried
to raise his arms in self-defense but the paralytic Two had used on
him was completely in effect now. He could barely make his eyes
focus—let alone force his body to get up and fight.

“
Now let’s see if we can’t
get the
key
to
that water processing chamber, shall we?” the Dark Kindred purred
silkily. “You’re much too heavy to drag so I’m afraid I’ll have to
take what I need with me. I like to travel light, you know.” A
knife suddenly appeared in his hand—a long, thin, black blade that
looked like it would be useful in filleting fish.

Terex eyed the blade in horror. Surely Two
wouldn’t—

A sharp, agonizing pain in his hand cut
through the numbness he felt. Looking down, he saw that Two had
chopped off his left thumb and was tucking it carefully into his
pocket. Dark crimson blood spurted from the ragged stump, wetting
the Council chamber floor but Two seemed not to care.

“
Now then,” he mused,
leaning over Terex with a predatory grin. “Which eye shall I take?
The right…or the left…?”

“
Take what…whatever you
want you…you bastard,” Terex gasped hoarsely. “You’ll still be
caught.”

“
Oh, I think not.” The
bloody tip of the knife got closer to his face and a drop of his
own blood dripped in Terex’s left eye. “I think…
not.”

* * * * *

“
Sylvan? Sylvan!” Sophie
rushed down the long, winding corridors of the Mother Ship and
Frankie and Kate followed her at a run. Frankie had been in
Sophie’s suite, pouring out her heart to them about what a jerk
Kerov had turned out to be when Sophie had suddenly gotten an
urgent mental message from her man.

“
Oh no! Oh my God,” she’d
cried, jumping up from the couch, clutching her head.

At first Frankie had thought she was having
some kind of aneurism but then Kate had clutched the side of her
head as well and started muttering as though she was talking to
herself. She too, had been contacted by her man—a Wulven Kindred
called Rone. Hurried preparations to make sure the children were
safe ensued and then they were all rushing through the Mother Ship
as fast as they could, though Frankie still had no idea what was
going on.

“
We’re over here,” a
familiar, deep voice said as they rounded a bend in the corridor.
Frankie saw that Kerov and another Kindred male—one with shaggy
black hair and piercing blue eyes who must be Rone—had Commander
Sylvan under the arms and were dragging him along the
corridor.

“
Sylvan! Oh my God—what
did he do to you?” Sophie gasped, running up to take her husband’s
face in her hands. “What’s wrong with your legs? Why can’t you
walk?”

“
Two gave me some kind of
paralytic. It’s wearing off now but slowly.” Sylvan grimaced.
“Never mind about me—are our children safe? And has the Council
been warned?”

“
I left Kat and Deep and
Lock in charge of all the kids. They were supposed to call Liv and
Lauren and Baird and Xairn and all of them together are going to
call the Council. They all had think-me’s on when I left,” Sophie
said breathlessly.

“
And did you tell them not
to drink the water? That none of them should drink or touch
anything that comes out of a tap?” Sylvan asked
urgently.

“
I did but why? What’s
going on?”

“
Two has some kind of plan
to infect the water supply of the Mother Ship,” Rone answered her
question. “We hope he won’t be able to carry it out but we have to
assume that he has for safety’s sake.”

“
But can he get into the
water supply of the whole ship that easily?” Kate asked, frowning.
“I mean, isn’t there some kind of security measure in
place?”

“
There is,” Sylvan said
grimly. His deep voice was hoarse. “He needs the codes which are
encrypted deep in the main security system or…” He frowned. “Or the
thumbprints and retinal scans of two Council members—which is why
it’s so important to warn them. He’s already got mine because he
somehow cloned me and he’s been impersonating me but he needs…Wait.
Someone is bespeaking me.”

He put a hand to his temple and Frankie
began to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. From the look
on Commander Sylvan’s face the news he was getting wasn’t good.

At last he looked up.

“
That was Commander Terex.
He’s on his way to the closest med center now but he made the guard
who found him give him a think-me so he could bespeak me
first.”

“
On his way to the med
center? Why?” Sophie exclaimed.

“
He…because
he…
Gods.”
Sylvan
winced as though he could barely get the words out.

“
Go on, honey—what else
did he say?” Sophie urged him.

Sylvan sighed heavily. “Terex said Two cut
off one of his thumbs and…” He swallowed. “And gouged out his
eye.”

“
Oh, no!” Frankie’s hand
flew to her mouth involuntarily. “That’s
horrible!
Who
is
this Two person?”

“
He’s the enemy of the
Kindred,” Sylvan said grimly. “And we have to stop him. But if he’s
got what he needs to get into the water processing chamber, I don’t
know how we can.”

“
Send some guards!” Sophie
cried. “There must be somebody there who can stop him! Here!” She
pulled out her communication device. “I brought my
comlink!”

Sylvan took the small device and spoke
rapidly into it but what he heard in return made his face look even
graver.

“
Keep trying and keep me
informed,” he told the person on the other end before ending the
connection. Looking up at Sophie, he shook his head. “Two’s already
inside the water chamber and he’s managed to jam the door locking
mechanism somehow. I’m afraid there’s no way in. No way to stop
him.”

“
Yes, there is.” Kerov
spoke up for the first time. All heads turned towards him,
including Frankie’s, and her heart began to pound.

Please don’t say
it!
she thought at him as hard has she
could, feeling sick.
Please don’t say what
I think you’re going to say, Kerov!

But their mental link was gone now that they
were in their own bodies—he couldn’t hear her.

“
I can Jump into his body
and take control—or try to, anyway,” he said, speaking to Commander
Sylvan. “That way I can stop him from infecting the water supply—if
he hasn’t already.”

“
He just jammed the door
less than a minute ago,” Sylvan said. “And it would take some time
to pry open one of the containment tanks. If you really think you
can do this, Kerov, now is the time to act.”

“
But…but what if something
happens?” Frankie asked, unable to help herself. “I mean—what if
Kerov gets trapped in Two’s body or he can’t stop him or this Two
person does something horrible to him? Or…something
worse.”

“
Something worse?” Sophie
asked, frowning. “What are you thinking Frankie—just tell
us.”

Frankie’s throat worked
and she could hardly get the words out. “I’m talking about what
Kerov’s mom and dad warned us about.” She looked at the big
Kindred, her palms damp and her stomach churning. “Kerov—if you die
while you’re in a host body, your soul will die too! You
know
that.”

“
That’s a chance I’ll have
to take—this must be what the prophesy about ‘one who Jumps true’
means.” There was a grim light in Kerov’s pale gray eyes. He looked
at Sylvan. “I’ve never done this before except with Frankie and by
accident. I don’t know if I can or not but I’m willing to try,
Commander.”

“
Then go,” Sylvan said
decisively. “Stop Two if you can, Kerov. The solution he wants to
put in our water supply will kill twenty percent of the Mother Ship
and turn the rest into malevolent clones of Two himself. We
must
prevent that at all
costs.”

“
I’ll try,” Kerov
repeated. “You’ll need to watch my body. I’m not sure if Two will
be transferred into it. I don’t think so, though—my guess is that
since we’re both awake, I’ll be able to take him over while he’s
still in his body. I hope, anyway.”

“
We’ll watch you,” Sylvan
promised. “Now hurry—we have no time!”

“
Very well.” Kerov closed
his eyes and appeared to be concentrating hard.

Frankie’s heart was in her mouth—she wanted
to grab his hand and beg him not to do it even though she knew it
was an incredibly selfish impulse. He was trying to save every man,
woman, and child aboard the huge Mother Ship but still, she didn’t
want him to get hurt. Yes, she was still angry and upset with him
for the way things had ended between them but the thought of
something happening to the big Kindred seemed to make her heart
stop in her chest.

“
Kerov—” she
started.

But before she could say anything else,
Kerov’s big body suddenly went limp and began to fall.

“
Catch him!” Frankie
gasped, running to grab an arm. He was too big to handle on her own
but Sophie and Kate helped too, since Rone was still holding
Commander Sylvan up. Between them, they slowly lowered Kerov’s
empty body to the ground.

“
Is he all right?” Sophie
asked uncertainly. “I mean, we can tell that Kerov’s gone but is
Two in his body now?”

“
No.” Frankie cradled the
big Kindred’s head tenderly and looked down into his handsome,
stern features, now slack with unconsciousness. “No, nobody’s
there. Kerov is just…gone.”

She felt like crying as she said it but she
tried to hold back the tears.

Please,
she thought, praying desperately.
Please let him be all right. Please bring him
back safely so I can make things right between us.
Please!

* * * * *

There was a strange rushing sound all around
him and he was flying through the air more swiftly than any bird.
Kerov didn’t know what to expect at the end of this journey. He’d
never consciously Switched before—hadn’t even known if it would
really be possible. But the moment he’d closed his eyes and
concentrated on the fake Commander Sylvan things had begun to
happen.