“Excuse me,” she said, to a passing girl who looked to be about her own age. “But could you tell me where the Unmated Males area is located?”
The girl frowned and pushed a sheaf of wheat-blonde hair behind one ear.
“The Unmated Males area? You sure you want to go there alone?”
“Why? Is it not allowed?” Luci felt her heart drop. “Please, the Kindred I need to see it there. So—”
“Oh, so you have a guy there, do you?” The worried look cleared from the girl’s face at once. “You should be fine, then. Just go straight to wherever he is and don’t linger in the street or anything.”
“Okay,” Luci promised. She didn’t want to admit she didn’t know exactly where Raze was, for fear she might not be allowed to go. Surely she could find someone who knew him once she got there, she thought. After all, how big could the Unmated Males area be?
As it turned out, pretty big.
After finding the area the girl had pointed her to, Luci looked with dismay at the long streets of the Unmated Males area. It was located right off the big park area and seemed to be made to house hundreds of warriors. Rows of small but neat single-residence apartments, some several stories high, lined the streets. There were a few little shops interspersed with them, but it was mostly residential, as far as Luci could see.
But the sheer volume of housing wasn’t the most intimidating thing. Everywhere Luci looked were Kindred warriors and all of them seemed to be eyeing her with interest.
Luci had on her cutest scrubs with cartoon dogs saying “Woof” and cartoon cats saying, “Purr” in little thought bubbles, but from the way these guys were looking at her, she might as well be wearing the skimpiest bikini imaginable.
Like a pack of dogs hungry for fresh meat! she thought and shivered.
Suddenly, two of the warriors stepped into her path. One of them had dark hair and brown eyes and the other had light hair and blue eyes but their faces had very similar features which made Luci think they must be brothers. Also, both of them were almost seven feet tall.
“Can we help you, lovely one?” the dark-haired Kindred asked.
“You look lost, my lady,” the light-haired one added.
“Oh, um…” Luci took a step back from them uncertainly.
“Are you here with a male?” the dark-haired Kindred asked her.
“Or are you seeking a mate? Or possibly mates?” his brother asked.
“Mates? Plural?” Luci was taken aback. Dios! She’d heard there were certain types of Kindred who both married the same woman, but she’d never expected to meet any of them.
“We are Twin Kindred, lovely one,” the dark-haired brother explained. “So yes, if you mated with us, you would get both. Two strong warriors for one beautiful female.” He grinned charmingly. “I believe you humans call that a bargain.”
“I…I’m not looking for bargains…or mates, either,” Luci said quickly. “I just want to find Raze—that’s all!”
Their faces creased into nearly identical frowns.
“Raze?” the dark-haired one asked. “Who is that?”
“He lives here—at least he told me he does,” Luci said. “He’s really tall…or well, all of you guys are tall, I guess.” She laughed nervously. “He’s a mechanic. Oh, and he’s a, uh, a hybrid—I think that’s what he called himself.”
“A hybrid mechanic?” The dark brother frowned. “A hybrid of what two kinds of Kindred?”
“He’s half Beast Kindred and half…half…the half that has a dragon inside,” Luci stammered. Dios, they were making her really nervous. And other Kindred had started to take an interest in their conversation—several tall warriors were drifting towards her.
“So this Raze is half Beast and half—” the light-haired brother began.
“Excuse me—I really have to go,” Luci blurted before he could finish. Out of the corner of her eye she had spotted a little building which said, “Scent Shop.” Figuring that it must be some kind of perfume store, Luci dodged around the tall warriors and ran inside as fast as she could.
To her infinite relief, none of them followed her. She closed the door behind her and stood there for a moment with her back pressed against it, breathing heavily. She scanned the store but there were no other customers.
Thank the Blessed Virgin! Feeling relieved, Luci left the doorway and looked around the little shop. Since its sign had said “Scent Shop” she would have thought it would be filled with perfume bottles—like Perfumania in the mall back home. But strangely, there were no bottles or even shelves to hold them. The front of the shop was just a small, plain, bare room with white walls and a single metal counter in the back.
Well this is weird…
Luci looked around the empty shop, wondering if maybe it was closed down. But if so, why was the door open? Another idea occurred to her—maybe the shop had just opened and the owner hadn’t moved his or her stock in yet.