Coming out on the other side of the park area she expected to see more shops and eateries—and she did—to her right, anyway. To her left was a decidedly different area of the Kindred ship. The shops were darker and closer together and there were various signs in the spiky, angular Kindred language that were flashing on and off, as though to draw attention to whatever they were selling inside. Liv also didn’t see any more families or couples. There were only males going into the shops and none of them looked particularly happy. In fact, if she had to characterize the look on their faces she would have called it hungry, although maybe not for food. What’s going on over there? Whatever it is I don’t think I want to know.
She shivered. Despite the pale green sunlight, this area of the ship seemed darker somehow, more forbidding. Dangerous. As the Take-me ambled past it, she tried not to look at any of the warriors entering and leaving the mysterious shops but she couldn’t help noticing that they were certainly looking at her. Several of them stared at her and lifted their heads, breathing deeply as though scenting the air. Weird… Liv shivered again and then, thankfully, she was past the area and the Take-me was entering a familiar looking warren of blank metal corridors.
This was the area where most of the mated Twin Kindred lived and Liv was looking forward to seeing some up close since they were the only kind of Kindred she hadn’t met yet. She’d mostly seen Beast Kindred and the occasional Blood Kindred, like Sylvan, in the area where she and Baird were staying. She wondered if Jillian would dish more on having two husbands and how in the world such a three-way relationship worked. Liv could kind of see having a ménage a trois with two hot guys—she’d read it was the number one female fantasy in some woman’s magazine or other. But to actually marry two men and try to keep both of them happy all the time? It can’t be easy, she thought as the Take-me came to a stop in front of a flat silver panel door that looked the same as her own. Well, here goes.
Leaning forward, she reached past the Take-me’s forward looking head and rapped sharply on the metal door. It slid open at once and there was Jillian Holms, looking only a little different than she had in high school.
“Livvy!” she squealed, opening her arms for a big hug. “Get off the Take-me and come here.”
“Uh…” It had taken a certain amount of maneuvering to get up on the shaggy green animal in the first place and Liv didn’t want to fall on her face getting off it. Awkwardly, she began to clamber down but Jillian stopped her.
“Wait a minute—why are you doing it the hard way? Make it smaller before you try to get down.”
“Make it smaller?” Liv stared at her blankly. “How?”
“Like this.” Jillian addressed the two-headed creature sternly. “Take-me, half-as-big.”
Liv gasped in dismay as the furry green back under her bottom suddenly began to shrink. In a second she was left standing with her legs still spread wide and a Take-me no bigger than a large dog between them.
“I…I didn’t know it could do that.” Liv stepped carefully away from the placid creature who was looking up at her patiently with all six of its big purple eyes. “Can it get twice as big too?”
“It can be any size you want—well, up to a point. The Take-mes can compress and expand their mass almost infinitely but you wouldn’t want to make it too big to fit in the ship, of course. Now come on.” Jillian tugged on her arm. “We don’t have all day and I’m dying to catch up with you.”
Liv allowed herself to be led into the suite Jillian shared with her two husbands and the Take-me ambled in after them. Jillian put it in with her own Take-me which had apparently just come back from the Kindred version of the vet. It seemed to have a longer back than Liv’s. “It’s a three person model—bred especially for Twin Kindred families,” she explained when she saw Liv staring. “Speaking of which, you haven’t lived until you’ve done it on a Take-me. The way they rock when they walk…” She trailed off giggling. “But I’m sure you know what I mean.”
“Well, no, actually. I had no idea there was any such animal, er, form of transportation, until you told me,” Liv reminded her.
Jillian frowned. “Oh, that’s right. So strange that your guy hasn’t taken you on your Take-me to see the rest of the ship yet.”
Liv felt uncomfortable. “Well, we’ve kind of been staying in a lot. Our, uh, claiming period isn’t even over yet—in fact, this is just the beginning of our third week.” She was not going to say tasting week but she didn’t have to because Jillian said it for her.