“All right now, Angel,” the Dark Twin rumbled. “What the fuck happened down there?”
“If you feel able to talk about it,” Gaze added, shooting his twin a look.
“I do…I think. But could I have a glass of water? My throat—”
“Here.” Bound popped open what Lexi had assumed was some kind of end table beside the couch, revealing an array of squeeze bulbs and drinking cans. He picked one out and handed it to her.
Lexi pulled the plug out of the straw sticking out of the squeeze bulb and sipped the contents gratefully. It wasn’t water but some kind of light, clear fruit juice which tasted wonderful and soothed her parched throat. She drank the whole thing and then leaned back with a sigh.
“Thank you—that was just what I needed.”
“Welcome.” The Dark Twin took the used bulb and tossed it with ease into a recycling container on the other side of the living area. Lexi became aware that both of the big Kindred were looking at her with a mixture of worry and expectation. She shook her head.
“I’ll try to tell you but…I can’t believe it’s gone. My house, I mean. My mother left it to me.”
“Try not to think about it now,” Gaze said gently. “And if you don’t feel like talking.”
“No, I do. I need to…need to tell somebody.”
Haltingly at first, Lexi told them about the scratching in the closet and then her horror on seeing what it contained. She told how Mistress Crueltongue had showed up and told her that she had been growing the three-headed bodyslave creature for the past month, planning to get back at Lexi.
“I knew she couldn’t be trusted,” Bound growled. “That female was fuckin’ crazy, Angel! You shoulda let us stay with you!”
“What’s done is done.” Gaze frowned at his brother and then looked back at Lexi. “What happened next? How did you get away from it? Did the creature set your house on fire? Or did Mistress Crueltongue?”
“Neither of them,” Lexi told him. “I…I set it on fire myself. But I didn’t mean to…”
She told them about grabbing the incandescent, which was the only thing she could find for a weapon, and using it on the enormous bodyslave.
“Holy shit! You burned his balls?” Bound crowed with disbelief and Gaze grinned as well.
“I’ll give you one thing, Alexa—you certainly know how to take care of yourself,” he told her.
“The thing was, I was just trying to fight back,” Lexi explained. “I didn’t know the whole damn thing would go up like a torch!”
“If it was vat-grown, I’m not surprised,” Gaze said. “Those chemicals they made clones in are very flammable.”
“I thought they might be,” Lexi said. “But then it went crazy, and it grabbed Mistress Crueltongue and it…” She shivered at the horrible memory and for a moment she couldn’t go on.
“What did it do, Angel?” Bound rumbled gently.
“Or would you rather not say?” Gaze asked.
“It…it bit her head off,” Lexi got out at last. “Which I think was what she wanted it to do to me. But it just went insane when I set it on fire.”
“Yeah, well getting your nuts roasted like that would make any male go crazy,” Bound remarked.
“After it fell over and blocked the doorway, I thought I was going to die,” Lexi said softly. “But then…” She paused. She had come to what—in her mind anyway—was the most unbelievable part of the story. For a moment, she hesitated, but then she decided the two Kindred deserved to hear it all.
“Then what? Go on,” Gaze said gently.
“Then I heard a voice and I felt this…this presence is the only way I can describe it,” Lexi told them. “It was comforting and soothing and it told me that I wasn’t going to die—that help was on the way.”
“You heard a voice? Who’s voice?” Bound sat forward, looking excited.
“Well, you may not believe me or think I hallucinated the whole thing in the heat of the moment, but the voice said it was the Kindred goddess.”
Lexi expected them to laugh or brush off the strange, supernatural experience she’d had. So their reaction surprised her.
“You heard the Goddess too?” Bound demanded. He looked at Gaze. “Brother, did you hear that?”
“Of course I heard! The Goddess spoke to Alexa too!” Gaze exclaimed.
“Wait a minute—what do you mean she spoke to me too?” Lexi looked back and forth between them. “Are you saying she spoke to the two of you as well?”
“How do you think we got to you in the nick of time?” Bound demanded.
“The Goddess spoke to us while we were still on Tranq Prime, not an hour ago, and told us you were in trouble,” Gaze added.
“An hour ago?” She shook her head. “But your home world and mine are light years apart. How did you get to me so fast?”