Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88235 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88235 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“I don’t want to hear another word from either one of you. Melli, Jodi—you girls go right now. I’ll bring up the rear.”
Her tone of maternal authority prevailed—as it always did—and the three of them finally crept out of the closet and ran for the window on the other side of the room. As Melli and Jodi lifted the window sash as silently as possible and began to climb out into the branches of the “spooky tree” as they had called it for years, Vicky stood watch by the door.
The Varians seemed to be busy at the other end of the long upstairs hallway. She could see feathers flying as they ripped her pillows to shreds and hear the sound of breaking furniture—they were really gutting the house.
This would have upset her more if she wasn’t in fear for her life and the lives of her daughters. Right now, though, she figured she could worry about the damage to the house later. After all, things could be replaced—she and her daughters couldn’t.
“Okay, Mom—we’re out,” a faint whisper came from the window.
Vicky looked over her shoulder just in time to see a white-sneakered foot—Jodi’s—disappearing out the open window. A slightly chilly breeze was blowing though it wasn’t too cold. Even in February, Tampa temperatures never dropped very low.
“Okay, I’m coming,” she whispered back. “Just going to shut the door so—”
But her words were cut off abruptly when a cold, scaly hand closed on her throat.
Vicky gasped as a pair of yellow, slitted lizard eyes stared directly into hers. The Varian must have snuck up while she had her head turned. With her attention elsewhere, he had slithered right through the barely cracked door and grabbed her.
“Let me go!” she croaked, trying to struggle. But the alien was too fast. With a lightning-like blur, he had both her hands restrained in one of his weird appendages—which had seven fingers, Vicky noticed, feeling sick. His other hand was still wrapped around her neck, choking her.
“Where isss it?” hissed the Varian, a long, forked tongue licking out to flicker over Vicky’s face as his slitted eyes narrowed. “Provide the T’lix-Kruthe immediately or die.”
Chapter Forty
Chain landed his craft well back from Vicky’s domicile, the better to observe what was going on. Sure enough, as he crouched in the thick trees and underbrush abutting her property, he saw not one but two Varian ships—the lizard-like bastards were all over the place!
Somebody needed to tell the Kindred of the Mother Ship that the lizard aliens had found a way to bypass the security net they had put around the Earth. The first time the Varians had followed him, Chain had thought it must be an anomaly—that maybe they had found their way in through a small area of weakness and Sylvan had agreed with him. But two ships indicated a lot more than a small area—there was a big problem with security here.
Well, no matter how they had gotten in, they were here now. And he would have to deal with them—alone.
Just as he thought that, he heard a crunching in the undergrowth behind him.
Drawing his blaster, Chain whipped around, only to see two warriors from the Mother Ship. One appeared to be a Blood Kindred in his early twenties and the other was a slightly older Beast Kindred. Both of their eyes were glowing in the dimness and they both held their hands up as soon as they saw his blaster.
“Peace, Brother,” the Blood Kindred said hastily. “I’m Liosh and this is Vorn—we came to help you. Well—to give you a message, actually, but now it looks like you could use some help.”
He nodded at the house and the Varians everywhere on the lawn like a big scaly nightmare.
“A message?” Chain narrowed his eyes. “What message? From who?”
“From the Lady Kat,” the Blood Kindred who had called himself Liosh said. “I was her pilot earlier today when she came to visit this house along with her friend, the Lady Lizabeth. She gave me a message she meant to deliver herself, but forgot because Lady Lizabeth went into labor on our way back to the Mother Ship.”
“All right—so what’s the message?” Chain growled. He was running out of patience, especially when Victoria was in danger and he had to figure out a way to get her out of the house crawling with Varians.
“She said…” Liosh cleared his throat uncomfortably. “She said to tell you that Vicky doesn’t hate you because you’re an M-Switch Kindred.”
Chain wasn’t completely sure how to interpret this and he didn’t have time to mull it over now.
“All right, you’ve delivered the message,” he said shortly. “Now help me clear out these Varians so I can get to my female.”
Both Liosh and Vorn drew their weapons at once.
“What’s the plan?” Vorn asked, raising one dark eyebrow at Chain.