Fledgling(30)
“Danger?”
He led me through the door, and we headed back across the lawn.
“Danger, Iosif?”
“We are not human, child. Male and female Ina adults don’t live together. We can’t. Mates visit, but that’s all.”
“What is the danger?”
“As your body changes, and especially as your scent changes, you will be perceived more and more as an available adult female.”
“By my brothers?”
He nodded, looking away from me.
“By you?”
Another nod. “We won’t hurt you, Shori. Truly, we won’t. By the time you come of age, I’ll have found mates for you. I was already talking to the Gordon family about you and your sisters … Now … now I intend to sell your mothers’ land. That money should be enough to give you a start at a different location when you’re a little older.”
“I don’t think I want to live here.”
“I know, but it will be all right. It will only be until you look more adult. Your brothers and I have our genetic predispositions—our instincts—but we are also intelligent. We are aware of our urges. We can stand still even when the instinct to move is powerful.”
“You said I’m a child.”
“You are, now more than ever with your memory loss. You can play sexually with your symbionts, but you’re too young to mate. You can’t yet conceive a child, and you’re not yet as large or as strong as you will be. Your scent right now is interesting, but for us, it’s more irritating than enticing.”
We went back into his house. “You’ll take us back to the ruin tonight,” I told him. “You said you would. Were you speaking the truth?”
“I was, but I shouldn’t have said it. I’m afraid for you, Shori.”
“But you’ll do it.”
There was a long silence. Finally he agreed. “I will.”
We went down the long hallway again and into the great room. There, Wright sat alone in one of the large chairs. The other three humans had left him. I went up to him, wanting to touch him from behind, wanting to lay my hands on his shoulders, but not doing it. I wondered what Iosif’s symbionts had said to him, what they had made him feel about being with me. I walked around and stood in front of him, looking down, trying to sense his mood.
He looked up at me, his face telling me only that he was not happy. “What happens now?” he asked.
“We go home,” I said.
He looked at Iosif, then back at me. “Yeah? Okay.” He got up, then spoke to Iosif. “You’re letting her go? I didn’t really believe you would do that.”
“You thought I was lying to you?” Iosif said.
“I thought your … paternal feelings might kick in and make you keep her in spite of your promise.”
“She’s tough and resilient, but I fear for her. I’m desperate to keep her.”
“So …?”
“She wants to go … and … I understand why. Keep her hidden, Wright. Except for my people and hers, I don’t believe anyone knows she’s alive. I even got that boy, Raleigh Curtis, to forget about her. Keep her hidden and bring her back to me on Friday.”
Wright licked his lips. “I don’t understand, but I’ll bring her back.”
“Even though you don’t want to?”
“… yes.”
They looked at each other, each wearing a similar expression of weariness, misery, and resignation.
I took Wright’s hand, and the three of us went out to the copter. Wright said nothing more. He let me hold his hand, but he did not hold mine.
Nine
Wright and I didn’t talk until we reached the car. We had flown all the way back to the ruin in silence, had said goodbye to Iosif and watched him fly away. When we got into the car and began our drive home, Wright finally said, “You have others already, don’t you? Other … symbionts.”
“Not yet,” I said. “I’ve gone to others for nourishment. I can’t take all that I need from you every night. But I haven’t … I mean none of the others …”
“None of the others are bound to you yet.”
“Yes.”
“Why am I?”
“I wanted you.” I touched his shoulder, rested my hand on his upper arm. “I think you wanted me, too. From the night you found me, we wanted each other.”
He glanced at me. “I don’t know. I never really had a chance to figure that out.”
“You did. When I was shot, I gave you a chance. It was … very hard for me to do that, but I did it. I would have let you go—helped you go.”
“And you think I could have just gone away and not come back? I had to leave you lying on the ground bleeding. You insisted on it. How could I not come back to make sure you were all right?”
“You knew I would heal. I told you you weren’t bound to me then. I offered you freedom. I told you I wouldn’t be able to offer it again.”
“I remember,” he said. He sounded angry. “But I didn’t know then that I was agreeing to be part of a harem. You left that little bit out.”
I knew what a harem was. One of the books I’d read had referred to Dracula’s three wives as his harem, and I’d looked the word up. “You’re not part of a harem,” I said. “You and I have a symbiotic relationship, and it’s a relationship that I want and need. But didn’t you see all those children? I’ll have mates someday, and you can have yours. You can have a family if you want one.”