The Vulpirans' Honor: The Soul-Linked Saga Read online

  Hope nodded, wondering why Honey was staring at her so oddly. After a moment she seemed to catch herself and returned her attention to her plate. She answered questions and smiled in all the right places, but Hope sensed that Honey was preoccupied with something, and that something had to do with her.

  “If you’re wondering about the mark on my forehead, and on Harlan’s, I’m happy to tell you about them,” she said, careful to keep her tone casual so that Honey wouldn’t think she was offended.

  Honey’s expression of surprise appeared to be genuine. “No, actually, I wasn’t.”

  Hope smiled and sipped her tea. If it wasn’t the Sentinel marks that had Honey curious, what was it? she wondered.

  “Can you tell me, please?” Nica asked, with the open curiosity of a child.

  “Of course,” Hope replied. “Harlan and his brothers are my sons by adoption. Do you know what that word means?”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” Nica said politely, surprising Hope. How did such a young child know about adoption? She looked from Nica to Honey, then to Berta. The three of them were obviously related. “The boys were born Clan Owlfen,” she continued. “Since their birth parents have died, we were all given this mark to help us know the right things to teach them as they grow up.”

  “Oh,” Nica said matter-of-factly, surprising Hope further. The little girl acted as though what Hope had said made perfect sense to her. “Do you have a bear mark too?”

  Hope stared in surprise. This was a very special little girl, she realized. “No, I don’t,” she said, keeping her tone as casual as Nica’s. “Clan Bearen do not have marks like Clan Owlfen. In fact, I don’t think any of the other clans have marks.”

  “Oh,” Nica said. “Thank you for ‘splaining, Mrs. Bear.”

  “You’re very welcome, Nica,” Hope said, exchanging smiles with Honey.

  “Well, if you’ll all excuse me,” said one of the women at the far end of the table. “I have a date with my Rami this afternoon.”

  “I suppose I should be getting back home,” Hope said, setting her tea cup down.

  “Hope,” Honey said hesitantly, “I would like to speak with you for a few moments, in private, if you don’t mind.”

  Hope nodded slowly. The expression on Honey’s face indicated that she had something important on her mind. “Of course,” she said. “Berta, would you mind if we use the blue parlor?”

  “Of course not,” Berta replied. “Would you like me to keep an eye on Harlan and Nica?”

  “Actually, if someone else could watch the children for a few minutes, I would like it if you could join us,” Honey said.

  Berta and Hope exchanged a look, both curious.

  “I’m more than happy to watch over the little ones,” Shellie offered. “You three go on, I think Harlan and Nica would like a stroll in the garden. What do you think, Nica?”

  “Yes, please,” Nica said as she climbed down from her chair. “And I can help with Harlan too. I’m a big girl.”

  “You sure are,” Shellie agreed as she lifted Harlan out of his chair and held out a hand to Nica. Honey watched Shellie leave with the children, then rose to her feet and waited for Berta to lead the way. A few moments later the three of them were in one of several small sitting rooms designed for potential Arimas and their male-sets to use.

  Berta closed the door behind them and took a chair alongside Honey while Hope sat on the sofa. “What’s going on, Honey?” she asked.

  “Aunt Berta, remember I told you I had two psychic abilities?” Honey said, still reluctant to reveal such things in front of strangers, but in this case, it was necessary.

  “Yes,” Berta said. She turned to Hope. “Honey is able to identify psychic talents in others, and she also has the ability to tell when a woman is pregnant.” She turned back to Honey. “We already know that Hope is pregnant though, Honey.”

  “Actually, what I do is a bit more complicated than that,” Honey said. “It’s difficult to explain, but I suppose the easiest way to put it is to say that I can feel the babies. I can sense their bodies, their physical and emotional well being. And sometimes I can help them if there are problems. That’s why I became an obstetrician. So I could better understand what I was sensing."

  “You’re a doctor too? Oh, that’s wonderful news!” Hope exclaimed. “We have an Alverian Healer, and he’s amazing. And we have obstetricians, of course. But an obstetrician with a talent like yours would be invaluable for us Jasani.”

  “I didn’t know you were a doctor,” Berta said, beaming at her niece with pride. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

  Honey shrugged. “We haven’t spent a lot of time together yet,” she said. “I suppose with everything else, we just didn’t get around to that.”

  Hope listened to Berta and Honey, frowning as a thought occurred to her. “Honey,” she said, “is there something wrong with my babies? Is that why you wanted to talk to me alone.”

  “I wanted to talk to you alone about the babies, yes,” Honey said carefully. “I was hoping that you would let me examine them a little more closely. Do you mind?”

  “No, not at all,” Hope replied. “Where and when? I’m sure Doc won’t mind if we use the infirmary.”

  “How about here and now?” Honey asked hopefully.

  Hope studied Honey for a long moment, then nodded. “Sure. What do you want me to do?”

  “If you’ll just lie back on the sofa there and relax a little, I can do the rest,” Honey said as she stood up and moved to the sofa. Hope kicked off her shoes and laid down as Honey asked, feeling nervous, but refusing to allow herself to panic. Honey knelt down beside her and placed one hand lightly on Hope’s stomach.

  “Just relax as much as you can,” Honey said in a soft voice. “This will only take a moment.”

  Hope nodded, then took a long deep breath and tried to do as Honey asked, though her heart was beginning to race. She watched as Honey closed her eyes and went still. Then she began to hum softly, a wordless tune that helped Hope to relax and her heart-rate to slow, though she was still worried.

  Honey opened her eyes and lifted her hands. She looked up at Hope and smiled, and Hope saw the relief in her eyes. Just as Honey started to stand up the door flew open and three huge men burst into the room.

  Startled, Honey fell backward, hitting her head against a small table right where her thick braid was coiled on the back of her head. Even with that cushion, she hit hard enough to dim her vision for a moment. She didn’t hear Jackson Bearen’s demands to know what was happening, or Hope’s sharp retort as she sat up and went to her knees beside Honey on the floor.

  Honey shook her head slightly trying to stop the dizziness. “I’m okay,” she said, trying to sit up. “Really Hope, I’m fine. I just need a moment.”

  “Help her up, please,” Hope said to a huge bear of a man with long, white blonde hair, icy blue eyes, and the same owl mark on his forehead that Hope and Harlan both had.

  Jackson knelt down and lifted Honey up off the floor as though she weighed no more than an infant and deposited her on a chair. Berta handed her a glass of water and she sipped it, trying to pull herself together while Hope told her Rami what was going on.

  “I apologize, Dr. Davis,” Jackson said with a bow. “We did not mean to startle you. We sensed Hope’s worry and I’m afraid we overreacted.”

  “It’s all right,” Honey replied. “No harm done.”

  “Can you tell me what you found?” Hope asked nervously. She felt as though she should let Honey rest, but she could not leave without knowing.

  “Yes, of course,” Honey said at once. “I’m sorry, just a little disoriented there for a moment.”

  She set the water glass down on the table and, since the three Bearen men were overwhelmingly large and intimidating, she focused on Hope instead. “Earlier, when we were in the dining room, I sensed that there was some distress with your little ones,” she said. “It worried me.”

  “Distress?” Jackson Bearen dem
anded.

  “Jackson, please,” Hope said softly. Jackson nodded and closed his mouth, though the tension in the man’s neck made Honey wonder if he was about to explode.

  “I examined your daughters, and though they are yet very tiny, they are quite normal and healthy,” Honey said quickly. “However, when you first arrived, I sensed some distress in the fetuses. After a while the distress began to lessen. Right now, everything is fine and normal. But I am concerned. I think it’s very important that we discover what caused the distress to begin with so that it can be prevented from recurring.”

  “What kind of distress are you talking about?” Jackson asked. “Is it physical? Maybe you shouldn’t be carrying the boys around,” he said, turning to Hope. “Maybe we should take a leave of absence so we can stay with you all of the time.”

  “I don’t think that’s the problem,” Honey said before Jackson could order Hope wrapped in cotton batting. Hope shot her a grateful look, and Honey hid a smile. But her smile faded quickly as she thought about what she’d felt from the fetuses.

  “Hope, tell me please, what did you eat and drink this morning?” she asked.

  Hope rattled off what she’d had for breakfast without hesitation, and Honey shook her head. None of the items Hope listed would cause the problem she’d sensed. If Hope were her patient she’d order a series of tests to be done. But she couldn’t do that here.

  “Oh,” she said, turning to Berta. “You told me that there was an Alverian Healer here, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, there is,” Berta replied. “Do you think he can help?”

  “Yes, I think so,” Honey said. She turned to the Bearens. “I’m very sorry for upsetting all of you, but I really do feel this is important.”

  Jackson, Clark and Rob all bowed to her. “If there is the slightest chance of a problem, we can only be grateful, Dr. Davis,” he said. “If it should turn out to be nothing, we will be pleased, but we would prefer to know, either way.”

  “I would like to speak with the Healer, if that’s possible,” she said. “The sooner the better. How can I get in touch with him?”

  “Give me one minute,” Clark said. He took one step to the side and turned before vanishing. Honey gasped in surprise.

  “He’s speed-traveling to get Jareth,” Hope said. “You’ll get used to it. The Falcorans do it all the time, and so do the Dracons.”

  “Wow, I bet that comes in handy,” Honey said. Suddenly Clark appeared again, with another man beside him. The newcomer had blood red feathers on his head and the whitest skin Honey had ever seen. His eyes were as red as his hair, which she found a little disconcerting, but when the man bowed to her, she returned it politely.

  Jackson quickly made the introductions, but no one was interested in formalities at the moment. “Jareth, it might be best if I speak to you alone,” Honey said.

  “I would agree, under most circumstances,” he replied with a smile. “But as these people are all Clan Jasani, we’d have to go very far away indeed before we could be sure they wouldn’t hear.”

  Honey bit her lip, glanced at Hope worriedly, then at Jackson, Clark and Rob. She had no choice, though she was concerned about Hope’s reaction to what she had to say.

  “I don’t want anyone to panic here,” she said, “but I think Hope ingested something she should not have.” She could not be more vague, and she would not be more specific.

  Jareth tilted his head as he studied Honey carefully. “Dr. Davis, would you mind holding my hands for a moment? I would like to sense what you felt.”

  “Of course,” Honey said as she held her hands out toward the Healer, who took them in his own and held them lightly. Honey wasn’t sure what she should do, so she went over her feelings from the time Hope had arrived. When she was finished, Jareth nodded and released her hands.

  “I see what you mean,” he said. “If I may say so, Dr. Davis, you have a truly beautiful gift.”

  “Thank you,” Honey said, her cheeks heating. She was used to hiding her gift, not receiving praise for it. “The problem is that while I’m able to psychically examine the babies, I can’t do the same for Hope. I was hoping you could.”

  “Yes, of course,” Jareth said. He turned toward Hope and asked her to lie back down on the sofa, then he held his hands above her body and focused for several moments. When he was done he lowered his hands and turned to Honey.

  “You are most correct, Dr. Davis,” he said. “There is something that should not be there. It is very subtle, too faint for me to identify. If not for you, I might never have found it myself.”

  “What are you saying?” Jackson demanded. “What’s wrong?”

  “We are not yet certain, Jackson Bearen,” Jareth said solemnly. “You must be calm.”

  Jackson, Clark, and Rob all nodded, but they held themselves stiffly, fists clenched, muscles standing out on their necks as they braced themselves. “There appears to be the faintest traces of a foreign substance in Arima Hope’s blood stream. Whatever it is, it affected the babies.”

  “Is there no way to find out what it is?” Hope asked. “How will I know what to avoid?”

  “We should ask Doc to perform a blood analysis,” Jareth suggested.

  “Be right back,” Rob said before disappearing. Before Honey had a chance to do much more than ask where he’d gone, he was back again.

  “Doc is at the infirmary and can see you right now,” he said.

  Hope sat up and put her shoes on. “Efharistos, Honey,” she said. “Without you, we wouldn’t know anything was wrong.”

  “There might not be anything really wrong,” Honey said. “It might just be a fluke.”

  “Dr. Davis,” Jackson said, “are you sure that the babies are all right?”

  “Please, call me Honey,” she said. “And no, there is no lasting harm done to your daughters that I can find, and I’ve checked them very carefully. So long as Hope does not continue to ingest whatever caused their distress, I think they’ll be fine.”

  “The moment Doc identifies the substance, we will find the source,” Jackson said. He bent down and lifted Hope in his arms, the expression of love and worry on his face making Honey’s eyes sting. What would it be like to have someone look at me like that? she wondered. Jackson turned slightly and they both disappeared. All of this flashing in and out was beginning to make Honey’s head ache.

  Clark and Rob thanked Honey once more, then Jareth and Berta, before Clark took Jareth back to where he’d found him, and Rob left to find Harlan.

  “You did good here today,” Berta said to Honey when they were alone.

  “Thank you, Aunt Berta,” Honey said tiredly. Using both of her psychic talents in the space of an hour had taken a toll on her, but she didn’t mind. It had been worth it.

  “Come on, Honey,” Berta said. “Let’s find one of my guys to speed-travel you back to your guesthouse so you can take a nap. Nica can stay here. There’s more than enough of us to keep her busy for a few hours.”

  Honey hesitated, then nodded in agreement. If she’d been on Terien she’d never leave Nica alone with a group of women whether she knew them or not. But this was not Terien, and the people here did not think like the Teriens. After spending time with the women in Arima House, she knew that Nica would be safe here in spite of her secret abilities.

  “Thanks, Aunt Berta,” she said, yawning suddenly. “I could use a nap.”

  Berta laughed. “I see that,” she said. “Come on.”

  ***

  Michael and the Vulpirans spent the remainder of the morning and a good portion of the afternoon going over all of the tests that had been run on the Xanti since its capture. Michael was impressed with the Research Center. He found it difficult to believe that it had been built only a few weeks earlier as an addition to the detention center. It was better equipped than any lab he’d ever seen, and he was excited at the prospect of working there during his stay.

  By the time they finished, Michael had a good understanding o
f the Xanti’s physiology. Where its major organs were located, what it ate, the type of poison in its stinger. He’d also examined the Xanti’s bio-suit, which looked exactly like Honey’s Aunt Berta except that its head was crushed.

  It was late in the afternoon before he was satisfied that he had enough information to approach the Xanti. For the moment, anyway. He had a clear idea of what to look for when he went face to face with it, and he was excited about using his psychic talent openly for the first time.

  Vikter led the way back through the Research Center and into the connecting detention wing to the thick, armored door that served as the only entry, or exit, from the Xanti’s cell. The cell was guarded by a Lobo male-set who bowed politely to the Vulpirans and Michael before unlocking and opening the door.

  Vikter entered first, checking to be certain that the barrier was in place, and that there were no gaps or apertures in the thick, clear wall. Satisfied, he gestured for Michael, Lance and Hunt to enter. The Lobos closed the door behind them and remained outside.

  Michael approached the wall, his eyes fixed on the Xanti still sitting in the corner of its cell. As soon as the door closed, it rose slowly, it’s long, spindly legs unfolding until it stood at its full height of about two and a half feet. It moved toward the table where the translator sat, appearing neither hurried nor nervous. After turning the translator on, it chittered for a moment, then pressed a button. The translation played through speakers in the ceiling.

  “Is this dinner?” it asked.

  One corner of Michael’s mouth turned up at the corner, his soft brown eyes going cold and hard. He stared for a long moment at the Xanti before closing his eyes and reaching out with his senses toward it. As expected, his first mental touch was vastly disturbing, requiring all of his will to maintain the connection without jerking back. He breathed deeply, relaxing his mind while maintaining contact with the vile creature.

  Vikter watched Michael as he closed his eyes and went into a trance, as he’d warned would happen. He could not imagine what it would be like to touch the mind of a being such as the Xanti, and could not help but respect the man for doing it. He shifted his gaze to the black, shiny segmented body of the Xanti, the hair on the back of his neck standing up when he saw the Xanti drop the translator and turn to face Michael. It clearly knew that its mind was being invaded, and from the way its red eyes were fixed on Michael, it knew the source of the invasion.