But Lyra didn’t seem to notice the murderous glare in theslave’s jewel-like eyes. She had a look of smirking satisfaction on her face asshe motioned for the prisoner to precede them from the parking area.

“C’mon, big boy, let’s get you trained,” she told him. “Walkstraight ahead and no funny business unless you want another taste of thecollar.”

She stalked behind the bound and collared slave like a sadisticprison guard and Kaylee trailed reluctantly after them. Somewhere in the pit ofher stomach a bad feeling was beginning to grow. A very bad feeling indeed…

 Brides of the Kindred Glossary

AllFather—theevil head of the Scourge, a race that are the byproduct of a failed genetictrade. The AllFather is one of the Old Ones and has the power to reach into aperson’s mind to harvest emotional pain and trauma. He lives for thefulfillment of the Scourge Prophesy.

AncientOnes—beings which live in the Deep Blue—the darkest and most inaccessiblepart of the Rageron jungles. They are sentient but not related in any way tothe Kindred. Each Ancient One has two forms—a bipedal form which resembles ahuman or Kindred and a beast form which can be deadly and they can changebetween forms at will. The Ancient Ones predate even the First Kindred andrevere the skrillix plant, which theyguard jealously.

Bespeak—tocontact someone mentally using a Think-me device. It is considered rude tobespeak someone you don’t know intimately.

Beast/RagerKindred—come from Rageron—a jungle planet full of beautiful but deadlyflora and fauna. They have dark hair, golden eyes, and hot tempers but theirmost defining characteristic is the mating fist. The mating fist is an area atthe base of the Beast Kindred’s shaft which engages fully only during bonding sexwith his chosen mate. When engorged it swells to keep the Beast Kindred and hisbride locked together until she is completely bonded to him. This ensures sexthat is both extremely long lasting and multiorgasmic for both partners.

Blacknessbetween the Stars—another name for the Hoard or Grimlax, an ancient enemy of the Kindred. These beings have nosouls and so are considered demonic by the Kindred.

BloodFever—a condition suffered by unmated females on Tranq Prime, the homeworld of the Blood Kindred. Blood Fever or Burning Blood as it is often called,is caused by a parasite living on the icy world that affects only women. Theparasite—found in the fleeta or bloodbeetle—reacts with a compound in the Tranq Prime water supply to cause thefever. Symptoms include chills, increased sexual need and the feeling of theblood heating in the veins as well as increased coloration of the nipples andsex. If the fever is not treated in forty-eight hours, it will result in death.

Once a Kindredmale has had a female’s blood, he forms a natural antidote to Blood Fever whichhe can pass on by sharing body fluids with her. The most effective way to getthe antidote into the female’s system is for a Blood Kindred to bite her,thereby injecting it along with his essence. However, it is also possible topass along the healing fluid through sex.

Blood Fever usedto be very common on Tranq Prime which is what prompted the cold, proud nativesto initiate a genetic exchange with the Kindred in the first place. A recentvaccine has nearly eradicated the disease, however, and the originalinhabitants of the ice bound planet have little reason to continue the trade. Afaction calling themselves Purists are against any further trade with theKindred.

Blood/TranqKindred—are blond with pale blue eyes and come from Tranq Prime where ice,snow, and arctic-like temperatures are the norm. To combat the severe weatherconditions, the Blood Kindred have higher than normal body heat with double thehuman amount of red blood cells. They have developed specific biting rituals toshare their supercharged blood and take the blood of their mates during theirown version of bonding sex. They have a set of double fangs located where ahuman’s canine teeth would be. These fangs do not develop fully or become sharpenough to pierce flesh until a Blood Kindred is with a woman he wishes to mateand bond with.

BondingCeremony—a wedding-type ritual which takes place after the Claiming Periodif the bride chosen by a Kindred warrior has allowed him to have bonding sexwith her and joined her mind to his.

BondingSex—the extra step a Kindred warrior takes to bind his bride to himpermanently during intercourse. For the Beast Kindred, it is the use of themating fist. For the Blood Kindred, bonding sex means sex during penetration.Twin Kindred bind a bride to themselves by entering her and coming in her atthe same time.

ClaimingCeremony—a sort of engagement service that takes place when a bride isfirst claimed by a Kindred warrior. He declares his intentions toward her andshe vows to obey the laws of the Claiming Period.

ClaimingPeriod—women who are drafted are required to go up to the KindredMothership and spend a thirty day “claiming period” with the warrior who haschosen them. If, at the end of that time, they have managed to resist thecharms of their Kindred mate, they are allowed to go back down to Earth andresume their normal life. However, if they succumb to their Kindred male’sseduction, they are mated for life and must move to the Kindred ship to live,leaving everything else behind and seeing their family and friends on Earthonly infrequently. Of course, many women are unwilling to give everything up atthe drop of a hat, draft or no draft. But the Kindred have a secret weapon—devotionto their female’s pleasure and attention to detail during incredibly hot sex.

ClamingPeriod Rules—The Claiming Period lasts for four weeks during which theKindred warrior attempts to seduce his chosen bride and she tries to resisthim:

The Holding Week: the Kindred warrior may hold his bride.

The Bathing Week: the warrior and his bride bathe together and he is allowed tomassage her with scented oils and make her come.

The Tasting Week: the warrior is allowed to perform oral sex on his bride.

The Bonding Week: sex is allowed but it is completely up to the bride whether shewill take things a step further and allow bonding sex which is a special andspecific process to the three different types of Kindred males. (Most womenhave given in well before this point but a few do resist.)

The only way out before theclaiming period is up is a breach of contract. This can happen if the Kindredwarrior does not strictly follow the rules and tries to skip forward in theorder of allowed events or by breaking one of the rules laid down by theKindred High Council. These rules—mostly to do with restrictions oncommunication with Earth—are for the safety of everyone aboard the Mothershipand are nonnegotiable. Ignorance is no excuse for breaking them and will resultin immediate termination of the claiming period.

Convo-pillar—Ahalf inch long insect which resembles a brightly colored caterpillar.Convo-pillars were genetically engineered by traders on the fringe coloniesaround Rageron to translate alien languages by communicating via thought wavesto their wearer’s brain. They have been outlawed by the Kindred High Councilbecause their notoriously unreliable translations cause more conflicts thanthey solve.

DarkKindred –also known as Enhanced Ones—thisfaction of the Kindred race broke off centuries ago when there was a shortageof viable females to call for brides. Vowing to overcome their sexual urges,the Dark Kindred made a genetic trade with the cyborg-like residents of ZeagaFour who are ruled by a group of sentient machines called the Collective. Sinceall emotion is prohibited on Zeaga Four, the organic inhabitants get emotiondamper implants to keep them from committing Feel-crime. Anyone found guilty ofFeel-crime without a special dispensation from the Collective may be summarilypurged.