Welcome back to your next installment! Hope you enjoy - if you don't please let me know. I appreciate all types of feedback.
Thanks as always to Steve150177 for his work on proofreading. The finished product reads much smoother thanks to him.
English is in italics where it appears.
Enjoy - DW
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The long awaited coupling finally came for Damien and his Brothers. I
hugged
and
kissed
them all good-bye in our rooms. Before I was taken to their friends' I reminded them to ask about Hannah, Damien promised he would.
My men were gone an unheard of five days. The delay panicked me and my Keepers put the calming cream on me at least once. I feared they were gone for good.
I was with Rose's family when Damien and his Brothers finally returned. We had been in their apartment when my men entered the room. As soon as I saw my family I covered each of them in
kisses
and affection. They returned it, in a fashion, but something seemed to be holding them back.
We went downstairs to the alcove in the bathhouse and the men disrobed after removing my ornamentation. They were bitten and bruised. Surprisingly they also had whip marks on their backs.
The deep bloody furrows had been placed wickedly and looked like they would take time to heal. Perhaps this pain had gotten to them, I thought. It certainly looked as though it hurt badly.
I cleaned my family gently and thoroughly. Touching their backs seemed to irritate them, so I was very gentle cleaning the evil looking marks. Most of them appeared to be healing already, which was good. While I worked they watched me with wary eyes. It was a bruise to my ego that they disliked my touch after being with the women. Of course it was normal, but it didn't mean I liked it.
"I will not hurt you, my love," I told Damien softly.
"And we do not wish to hurt you," he replied.
It was a strange comment and I wanted to ask him about it. I would have, but this wasn't the place. Instead I finished cleaning him and washed his Brothers in silence.
They didn't stay downstairs to mingle with their friends. Basin and his Brothers tried to start a conversation about the whip marks. Damien ignored him and bid him good night. It was an abrupt and brusque end to the conversation.
We walked silently to our dwelling and I took brief glances to examine their backs again. It wasn't a recent whipping. This must have been done when they first went to the coupling. Several of Damien's and Christof's marks would scar, I could tell.
Upstairs, behind the closed door, I tried to ask about the marks. They ignored me as we ate dinner in silence. After the meal, Damien put me in my linen night dress and told me to go to bed.
"Will you all be joining me?" I asked touching his arm.
Damien jerked away and pointed to the bed. They had things to do, but I should rest, he told me. A normal schedule would keep me healthy.
My temper flared and I started to say something. The hard look on Damien's face stopped me. He wasn't in the mood for disagreement or even friendly banter.
"Go," Christof said quietly, "we will join you later. We have had a...difficult time these last few days. You need your rest and it would be better for us to be alone for a while."
I hadn't felt like an intruder on their family life in a long time. In a flash I turned on my heel and went into the bedroom. Of course they needed time to be together after getting smacked around by the women for five days. Mortified by my insensitivity to their feelings, I even closed the leather drape.
On the bed I lay so I could look out the window. I wasn't tired at all, so I just watched the stars. At some point I must have drifted to sleep, because I woke up and they were all snoring around me.
Quietly as I could I walked to the bathroom. I was taking a sip of water in the kitchen when Christof came out from the bedroom. He sat down at the table and watched me with sad eyes.
Softly, I told him if he needed to, he could talk to me. He passed a hand over his mouth and chin. There seemed to be some internal battle going on in him.
"I won't push you," I said brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Only tell me this, are we being separated?"
He paused and watched me before he spoke. My heart almost stopped waiting for his answer.
"No, we are being left together. As long as we do what they want, we will not be taken from you," Christof answered.
"The rest we will deal with," I told him stroking his neck.
We went back to bed and lay down. Everyone else was awake, but none of us spoke. Eventually I fell back to sleep, but I think it was a long time before they did.
Breakfast was a strikingly subdued affair. Evan had cleaned me in silence and now we ate in absolute quiet. It was the most uncomfortable I had been in a long time. I barely tasted the food.
The little cup I always took was placed in front of me. I took it like a shot, because it was unfailingly nasty. Long ago I'd learned not to let it wash over my tongue.
For a moment I sat smacking my lips and looking at the cup.
"That was different," I said to the group.
It still tasted medicinal, but it was not the same. This liquid was slightly sweet and less bitter. Terror struck me, what if someone had tampered with the drink?
"Damien," I said and he looked up at me with haunted eyes, "that wasn't what I usually take. It was different. You have to get me the right drink and find out what happened."
"It is a health drink," he said slowly. "It is different now."
No one else spoke and Damien did not continue. I mumbled apologies for interrupting breakfast and looked back down at my plate.
Christof spoke next, "We were told it would help build your blood and keep you strong," he informed me.
My eyes were curious, but I held back the questions. The tension was rising in the room. Whatever was bothering them seemed to be coming to a head.
"Hannah is strong," Bane said out of the blue. "She is a very good fighter."
"Her curiosity," Kein added, "has allowed her to learn about the world quickly. She is an asset to the women. Hannah will be powerful, like Damien's other daughter."
My excitement peaked and I spoke, "You saw Hannah? Did Nu-reeh say I could see her?"
"We did not see her," Damien said staring at me. "You may see her when you have done what the women wish you to do."
"What...?" I asked looking around.
What could the women possibly want me to do? I was a slave to their men. And why was Hannah suddenly a topic of conversation?
No one spoke, but I could see the rapid display of emotions on their faces. Damien rose and stood staring at a wall for a moment. Evan and Bane both looked pointedly at Christof.
I knew suddenly what they wanted. My family knew how I had hated to give Hannah up. It would have killed them to tell me I had to do it again, so they couldn't bring themselves to say it.
The women wanted another Hannah, they would breed me.
Breakfast rushed into my throat and I bolted for the bathroom. Everything I had just eaten came right back up. Kneeling on the bathroom floor, I panted and cried.
"I won't do it," I kept repeating.
The men wiped my face and I slapped at their hands while scooting back from them on my knees.
"I won't do it," I said louder. "You cannot make me. I gave away my firstborn, never again..."
I stood and kept retreating for two steps. Literally and figuratively I found myself in a corner.
"You must," Christof said quietly. "It is what they want from you, from us."
"No, I won't let you put a baby in me," I shouted shaking my head. "None of you will touch me. The women will get bored with the game and they'll leave me alone."
Evan took a step toward me and I flattened myself into the wall behind me. He spoke and it chilled me to the bone.
"If we do not put the child inside of you," he said slowly, "the women will give you to a group of men they find suitable. They know how fertile you are. We only had you for five days..."
I was hyperventilating.
My thoughts were suddenly of Earth. The women in my mother's family were all good breeders. Grandmother had eight children, my great grandmother had eleven. Despite her alcohol issue Mom had been, too. She had six elective abortions after she had me. Children had not been in her plan. Her tubes were tied finally. Mom had sworn I'd do just like all the other women and raise a brood.
"Your children will be strong," Damien's voice broke into my thoughts. "The women tested you, somehow. They know any child you bear will take up the Paterian traits well. We do not understand how they can know this."
Genetic
testing was the assumption I made. My mind swam with the implications of what Hannah had told me. Huge living computers had studied me and found me a suitable breeder.
"Can we get away?" I asked softly. "Can you send me off this planet?"
Damien's fist crashed into the stone wall in the bathroom. Again and again his fist slammed into the structure in front of him. Bane stopped him finally with Evan's help.
"No," Christof said watching Damien warily, "we cannot. The women watch the ships that leave here. If we tried to take you through the portals, they only lead back to the slave auction."
Evan spoke as he held Damien's arm, "All the portals from there lead to planets that use slaves or are ones the slavers hunt on."
It wasn't safe in those places. The men would have to come with me and who knew what dangers we would face. None of us would know what was poison, or what we could eat or even touch. There may not be water or air and all of us needed those things.
The men were not educated about other planets. Their knowledge of anything past the flat lands they lived on was nonexistent. We were woefully unprepared to leave this world.
"We swore," Damien said hoarsely, "to protect you. You are ours to protect, our Sister...our family."
I nodded silently. It had not been a lie. I knew they had tried. The marks on their flesh were testament to the women's resolve. My family had tried to protect me. When the whip did not break them, Nu-reeh had threatened them with a worse fate for me.
The idea of being passed around and handed to other men terrified me. I would do anything to stay in the safety of my family.
"It is late," I said softly. "You must get to work..."
We got ready quickly. Christof fed me the root to settle my stomach. They ornamented me and dressed themselves in silence. Our ride to the Keepers' compound was quick. When the transport landed I turned and looked at their strained faces.
"I know you tried and I am grateful. Don't worry, we will survive this," I told them simply.
Inside the Keepers' was the usual flurry of activity. Music and dancing were the themes that predominated. Many girls lounged and talked casually. No one noticed as I found a quiet corner and settled myself.
Thoughts raced in my head as I looked out the window at the open sky. I fought to find the positive in this situation. It seemed that it might be the thing to finally break my resolve.
Yes, it was good Hannah was strong. That hardly meant I wanted to be a breeding bitch for the women here. Perhaps my next child was male or weak? Where was the good in that?
Rose and Fuji suddenly bounced in front of me and settled down. Fuji's grin turned to a frown and Rose immediately calmed herself.
"Something is very wrong," Fuji stated taking my hand.
Rose nodded and put a comforting hand on my leg.
There was no reason to burden my friends with my problems, but I couldn't resist. I told them everything. In a fierce whisper the truth spilled out of me.
Even with them, I had never been as honest as I was now. Before I had led them to believe this society was organized as the men saw it. Now the brutal candor seemed to stun them.
"The women own...?" Fuji said stunned.
"The men," I finished, "are sold by their mothers to strong women who will protect them. They are moved to the compounds to be raised and kept."
