Speaking of the female of their choice, he wondered if he would ever find the lovely little human he’d been dreaming of for so long. Was he truly Dream-Sharing with her, or was she just a figment of his imagination—a recurring dream he wished could come true because he had been lonely for so long?
The lovely one, as he thought of her, was the reason he had volunteered to enter the cut in space, though no one knew where it might lead. When it had appeared, the scientists aboard the Monstrum Mother Ship hadn’t known what to make of it. But then the Goddess had come and told them what to expect, had told them that there might be hope, even though their own universe was overrun with evil…
Well, he was about to appear before these Kindred’s High Council and tell them all what The Mother of All Life had said. The question was—would they believe him? Would they take his warning seriously? And would they allow the Monstrum Kindred to find a safe haven here?
Storn just didn’t know. He trod the green and purple grass under his hooves meditatively, hoping he would find the right words to convince them. They were in grave danger here—as was the planet they protected. If this universe became overrun as well, they might all be wiped out.
He just hoped he could make them understand before it was too late…
8
“So you’re saying that more of the Monstrum Kindred will be coming into our universe?” Commander Sylvan, the leader of the High Council, raised one blond eyebrow at the hoofed and horned Kindred who stood before them. He was trying to withhold judgment—Storn was, after all, just another branch of his own family tree. But the news he brought was highly disturbing.
“And that they’re going to try and take Earth’s females as brides for themselves?” Commander Baird demanded. “Because that isn’t fucking happening! Earth is ours—we protect it and we have for years!”
“Please, I don’t think you understand—it isn’t just my people who can get through the gashes in space,” Storn protested.
“Gashes? Plural?” Commander Sylvan asked, disturbed. “As in, there are more of them?”
“That was the warning the Goddess gave my people to bring to yours,” Storn said patiently. “The same thing has happened to our own ‘verse and some of the creatures which have come through are…frightening, to say the least. We call them the Darklings and they are slowly taking over our ‘verse. It’s them you must beware of.”
“So every gash leads to another universe?” Sylvan asked, trying to understand.
Storn nodded, his horns winking in the light from the overhead glows.
“Which is why the Goddess herself has opened a gash between the Monstrom ‘verse and your own. We must work together to keep our ‘verses safe…though I fear it may be too late for ours,” he added, sounding sad.
“So you think you’ll come invade ours and take the Earth females for your brides?” Baird demanded.
“It is not our intention to take all of what is yours,” Storn said, speaking with dignity. “But I do believe the Goddess meant for you to share with us. Or at least, not to impede the Joining of a Monstrum Kindred and an Earth female when their minds align and they begin to Dream-Share.” He kept his chin high as he spoke, his shoulders straight under his bronze uniform shirt.
He doesn’t lack courage, Sylvan thought. I’ll give him that. Storn stood erect before the semi-circular table where the High Council was seated, without a hint of fear as he made his request.
Except for the shiny black hooves and the polished, curling horns, Sylvan thought that the Satyr Kindred must be much like the Blood Kindred, of which he was one. The Blood Kindred were known for being cool and logical in solving problems—though they could be roused to a protective Rage, as all Kindred could, if their females were threatened.
And speaking of Rage, his half-brother’s golden eyes held a dangerous tinge of red, Sylvan thought. Hastily, he put a hand on Baird’s arm.
“Peace, Brother,” he murmured. “We can at least hear him out.”
“But look at him!” Baird protested. “We Kindred of the Mother Ship at least look humanoid—well, except for our size and strength. But these Monstrum Kindred—”
“We bear many of the characteristics that you think of as ‘animalistic’,” Storn finished for him, surprising everyone at the Council table.
“Well…yes,” Sylvan admitted. “You have to understand, it took the people of Earth years to accept us as viable mates for their females and there is still a large contingent of human males who hate and revile us for ‘taking their women.’ If we suddenly introduced you as another kind of Kindred who wished to take their females as brides, there would be an outcry from the humans. They would claim we were subjecting their women to bestiality.”