Between Darkness and Light (71 page)

“I like to think I would,” smiled the young Prime, inclining his head. “Good night, Captain.”

“Good night, M'kou.”

 

Vartra sat in the armchair opposite Shaidan's bed, watching him sleep. The seed of an idea he'd planted in the cub the night before had taken fruit already in Kusac when Shaidan had mentioned it to him. Now all that remained was to give Shaidan the necessary knowledge of the skills his father would start teaching him the following evening.

Fighting was not something he'd been good at, so he'd had to visit L'Seuli and take the knowledge from him. He'd never done a knowledge transfer before and hoped this one would go well. Oh, he knew the theory of how to do it, but that wasn't quite the same. Shaidan was certainly old enough to start learning, but given the circumstances, he'd decided that the sooner the cub knew how to defend himself, the better. No matter what the Camarilla thought, the future was far from written in stone yet.

He rose to his feet in a fluid move and advanced to the side of the bed, sitting down beside the sleeping cub. So small and helpless he looked, lying there with his hand curled on the pillow beside his face. Sighing, he reached out and laid his hand on the child's forehead, marshaling his thoughts.

When it was done, he got to his feet and bent down to gently stroke Shaidan's forehead. “Sleep well, little one,” he said, before stepping back and melting into the shadows from which he'd come.

Carrie picked Layeesha up out of the playpen, and holding her close against her chest with one hand, took a firm grip on her scruff with the other. Instantly, the squirming cub froze.

“You're very good with Sholan cubs,” said Ray, parting the fur on Layeesha's shoulder then swabbing it with an antiseptic wipe before administering the inoculation.

“Shush, my pretty,” she crooned as her daughter yowled in protest. “It's all over now.” She rubbed her cheek against the cub's, then returned her to the playpen with her brother and half sister.

“They're not Sholan,” she replied, reaching for three pieces of dried fruit she'd set aside for them. “They're hybrids.” Bending down, she passed a piece to each of them.

“How can you tell?” asked Ray, dismantling the hypo gun ready for sterilization.

“Layeesha and Dhaykin are my twins, and Rishu is their half sister,” she said dryly.

There was a small silence. “I didn't know you had children.”

“I've three, and it looks like you're about to meet my oldest,” she said, catching sight of T'Chebbi and Yashui, the cubs' senior nurse.

“Mamma!” shrieked Kashini, racing over to fling herself at her mother.

“Hello, sunshine,” she said, bending down to catch the small blonde-furred cannonball. “Did you have fun seeing the rhaklas with T'Chebbi?”

“Yes. T'Chebbi put pretties in my hair. See!” she said, grabbing a braid and waving it in her mother's face.

“Very nice. I hope you thanked her,” Carrie grinned over her head at T'Chebbi.

“I fank her,” asserted the cub, ears flicking toward the other female. “Din I, T'Chebbi?”

“Yes, cub, you did.”

“We've just finished,” said Carrie, letting Kashini scramble back down to the floor. “Rishu was fine, much braver than my two.”

T'Chebbi laughed and bent down to pick her daughter up, holding her carefully away from her knife and gun.

“This is Ray, one of the two Earth doctors I spoke about,” Carrie said, indicating him with a nod of her head.

T'Chebbi nodded briefly at him. “You want we take all cubs home, Carrie?”

She glanced at her wrist comm. “If you don't mind. They're due to be fed in half an hour and I've still got to finish up here.”

With much complaining, Kashini was finally persuaded to leave. It was the promise of being allowed to scamper through the snow at the side of the sidewalks that did it.

“It beats me how their bare feet don't freeze in that snow,” said Ray, watching them leave after putting on warm jackets.

“Stop thinking of them as having bare feet,” said Carrie as she collected the empty drug canisters. “They never wear shoes so their feet are very hardy.”

Silence, apart from Ray's keypad, reigned as she loaded up the sterilizer and turned it on.

“Excuse my ignorance, but if they're twins, why are they listed as having different fathers?”

“Because they have.” She was getting a little irritated at all the obvious questions.

He turned round to look at her. “I must be missing something here. I thought you were married.”

“I am, to both their fathers,” she replied shortly. “We're one of the Triads, the first in fact.” She watched him trying to digest this without the shock he felt showing on his face.

“Isn't it asking rather a lot of Human women like yourself to follow their polygamous customs?” he asked finally. “I see that Rishu is also a child by one of your husbands.”

“I'm not Human, I'm gene-altered, like my husbands,” she said, going over to fold up the playpen. “And Triad marriages are only practiced here on our estate. Most Sholans never marry, they just take out bonding contracts to have families. As for T'Chebbi's cub, those of us who marry for dynastic reasons, as we did, are allowed to have a socially acceptable Companion. T'Chebbi is Kaid's. You should have been told all this at the induction course.”

“We were, it just seemed very academic till now. Seems to me that system favors the men rather than you women if they can also have mistresses.”

“A Companion isn't a mistress, she's more,” she said sharply. “And we can take lovers, just like the males. Shola's a matriarchy, we just don't rub our mates' noses in it. Sholans are very like Earth felines in that way.”

“In what way?”

She stared at him as she stood up, making full use of her feline eyes. “In every way you want to mention,” she said, a purr underlying her words.

It was Ray who looked away, unable to take the unblinking stare from eyes no Human but she possessed.

“In every way you choose to mention,” she said softly.

“There's a big difference in being told about a culture and actually experiencing it,” he said finally. “I don't know what you think of me, but I came here to get that experience because I am genuinely interested, not as some thrill-seeking voyeur.”

She instantly felt contrite. “I'm sorry,” she said. “I was the first person to meet the Sholans, and have a Leska, so I got all the flak from every direction. I still tend to stay away from Humans because of it.”

“You're very different, even from the others here,” he said, allowing a small smile to lift the corners of his mouth. “Those eyes of yours are a real put down, never mind the vocal effects.”

She laughed and moved over to the cupboard where the playpen was stored, putting it away. “They come in useful, but they do identify me far too easily at times,” she agreed.

“What happened?” Ray asked, turning round in his seat to watch her. “How did they change?”

She sat down on the other chair. “No one's completely sure,” she said. “It happened not long after our Link was established. My father and I had a rather public row and I seemed to . . . change.”

“Change? Into what? A Sholan?”

She nodded. “Just very briefly, and not completely. When I changed back, my eyes stayed as they are now. It's never happened since.”

“They're very beautiful,” he said. “How are things with your father now?”

“Fine,” she said, more briskly, slightly embarrassed by the compliment. “He adores Kashini. He's seen the twins on a vid call, of course, but not met them yet.”

“Doesn't it feel strange, looking at your children and seeing them so very different from Humans? How do you cope with it?”

That did it. Her face froze and she got to her feet. “It's all in the medical records,” she replied coldly. “I told you, I'm half Sholan now. My children reflect my genetic makeup, not my outward shape.”

Ray was out of his seat in an instant, hand on her arm to prevent her leaving. “I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to offend you,” he said, letting her go and stepping back hurriedly as her eyes narrowed again, this time to vertical slits of anger. “Let me make it up to you somehow—take you out for a meal or something. It's just that all you Humans—hybrids,” he hastily corrected himself, “seem so very—Sholan. It fascinates me.”

She hesitated, using her senses to see if he was telling the truth. He was, there was none of the murky undercurrent she found too often in the minds of those who professed an academic interest in her people.

“I really am sorry,” he repeated, backing off till he was sitting on his chair again. “I've so many questions I would love to ask, but you're the first hybrid Human person I've had the chance to talk to. I'm not a telepath, I've not even got the hope that one day I could belong to a group like yours. If you want outsiders like me to understand you, you have to talk to us,” he ended lamely.

He has a point
, sent Vanna from her room down the hallway.
Let him take you out for a meal, ask you questions. Who knows, he might even make a difference when he does go back to Earth. And we'll find out what it is about us that they're all so fascinated about!

You go if you think it's such a good idea!
she sent.

Why not,
she thought. Everyone, Kaid included, had been telling her to get out more.

“All right,” she said. “I'll go with you, and you can ask your questions.”

“What? You will?” he said, grinning from ear to ear as he pushed back the lock of hair that had fallen over his eyes. “That's great! When? Tonight?”

She nodded, sending to Kaid to tell him what she was doing.

Very well,
he replied.
Take him to The Hunter's Rest. Dzaka and Kitra plan to be there in an hour or two. My son can act as your bodyguard if needed.

She was about to object when he sent again.

Raiban has agents in Valsgarth. I don't want any of them getting overenthusiastic. If you don't want to travel with Dzaka and Kitra, get Ni'Zulhu to arrange an aircar for you. He can get permission to break the transport curfew and set you down outside the restaurant, the same to bring you back.
There was a small silence.
Why didn't you ask me if you wanted to eat out?

You know I lack the social skills and don't always notice when . . .
he began.

I don't want to argue with you, Carrie.
There was a weariness in his tone.

“Yes, tonight,” she said to Ray.

 

When they arrived, she discovered Ni'Zulhu had also rung ahead, reserving them a table.

“Liegena,” said the owner, coming forward as soon as they entered. He bowed his head to her, beckoning an underling forward to take their heavy outer coats.

“Please, come this way. We've provided cushions for the Djani's comfort.”

“Thank you,” she murmured as they followed him to their table.

“Djani, what's that?” asked Ray, looking round the manyalcoved room. “I've never heard that word before.”

“Honorific—translates to gentleman,” she said, sending a return greeting to Kitra and Dzaka whom she could see were sitting in easy line of sight of the table to which the owner was escorting them.

Though not full, the restaurant was busy. Many heads turned to look at them, but were quickly turned away again when she stared at them and they took in the fact she was wearing a Brotherhood purple-edged black tunic over the same color trousers. Inside, she cringed slightly, strengthening her mental shields. She'd known that the scandal Kusac had created when he left Shola would draw some unwelcome attention to her when she'd accepted Ray's invitation because this was her first public outing.

“Enjoy your meal, Liegena, Djani,” said the owner, bowing slightly to them before leaving.

“Seems a lot of people know you,” said Ray as he sat down on the high-backed, curved padded seat.

“They know of me,” she corrected him, drawing her legs up into the bowl-shaped seat and arranging herself comfortably. “Valsgarth town grew up to serve the needs of the Aldatan Telepath Clan, of which we're a branch.” She'd no intention of telling him exactly why the interest in her tonight.