Zylan Rebellion Read online

  “What are you talking about? Un-linked couples can’t have children,” he snorted in disgust.

  “We have developed a potion which will enhance our ability to conceive without the mating bond,” Syblia stated smugly.

  “Well, it won’t do you any good, I can…” Raj trailed off. No. He wouldn’t tell them what he was. If he couldn’t talk these psychotic women out of trying to use him, it could be his only way out. Raj tried to prepare mentally for what he must do.

  Syblia didn’t seem to notice his slip. “You just lay back and relax. Over the next few bi-nons, we will all take turns with you and then we will dump you in a village far from here. We can’t allow you to retain any knowledge of us when you leave, so we’ll have to alter your memories. Just do your job and an altered mind is the only harm that will be done to you.”

  He froze at this pronouncement. They planned on altering his memories? A chill ran down his spine, he knew mind-altering required a very skilled healer if it was to be done without causing some kind of permanent damage. He could be left completely brainless or with big holes in his psyche. There was no question he had to get out of here before they attempted to mess with his mind!

  Syblia pulled the blanket off him and several women bent over him. He refused to look at them, to see them as individuals. Their hands and mouths moved over his flesh, touching everywhere on his body and he fought any response with a growing feeling of revulsion. This was not consensual and caring sex. This was a rape of his body and, possibly, his mind.

  He had to get control of his emotions and turn this reprehensible situation to his advantage. Reminding himself there was only one chance of escape—as a Vampen he could use his very rare form of psychic talent to feed his mental strength and ability by feeding from the women’s orgasmic release. His body took nourishment in the customary fashion, by eating food, but he fueled his extrasensory powers in an entirely different way.

  When the women climaxed and dropped their psychic shielding he could feed from their energy and the more he fed, the more powerful and long-lasting his abilities became. Normally he took care of his needs with a carnal sharing, pleasuring women and taking great pride in his sensual prowess and the way he treated each and every one of his lovers. In return, the women knew he would use their energy to replenish his own.

  These women were intent on taking his seed and using him against his consent…they would be very disappointed to find that, instead, he would be using them.

  Over the years he’d honed his control, denying his body fulfillment in order to protect himself. If he were to climax with anyone but his link-mate, his power would be drained so low it would take nons to build up his psychic reserves to a level providing him enough power to do even the simplest things. Like concocting clothing with a thought.

  Only when he found his Life Companion would he finally allow his body to seek release and spill his seed. Linked with his life-mate, his orgasms would spiral and return to him—providing all the psychic energy he could ever need. Being Vampen meant having a climax at any other time could be life-threatening. He had been controlling his libido since reaching maturity. At thirty life cycles, he was literally incapable of reaching that point with anyone else. At this minon in time, he could only thank the Goddess that release was almost physically impossible. The thought of any of these women bearing his children made him ill.

  These women would be frustrated and angry when they tried and failed with their plans. Raj grimaced as he remembered lying in the bushes outside the village. Well…he’d been incapable until Ahnika’s soul tendrils seduced him. Shying away from the memory of his orgasm during the interlude in the hills with Ahnika’s soul trails, he didn’t understand what had happened then and thinking of it only made him want more. Now was not the time to lose sight of his current situation.

  He had to turn his mind away from the realities of this…rape. Let them use him, and hopefully his expertise would force them into climax so he could feed. The thought disgusted him but he realized he had no choice.

  The women worked relentlessly to get him hard, trying to prepare him for their use. It took Raj a great deal of time to control his revulsion, to shut off his mind and allow his body to quicken with lust. As soon as his cock got hard, Syblia lowered her body over him and he fought to keep his erection. She rode him hard, intent on getting him to spill while she worked to keep her own body from reacting.

  Raj laughed bitterly to himself, she had chosen the wrong man for her plans. He knew how to lift, to rotate and move just right…it didn’t take long before she was moaning in unwanted and fulfilled passion.

  And he was left cold.

  Syblia jumped off him in disgust and snapped instructions to the other women as she left to “cleanse his scent” from her body. Raj felt no empathy for her anger. He would do what needed to be done.

  He was required to service several women that moonrise. Each time they climaxed and he didn’t, they seemed to get more desperate. And angry. Not one of the women took pleasure in their orgasms. Instead they seemed to see them as a sign of failure.

  They never realized their psychic energy and life force was pouring into him from their orgasms. His strength started to build and he waited impatiently for them to give up.

  Raj shuddered. He loved women—he needed them to live, for Goddess’ sake. He had never taken anyone by force or used potions or any compulsion over them. Sex had always been delightful, but this experience was a nightmare he couldn’t have imagined. He never wanted to feel this way again. Dirty. Used. With no control over how his body was taken.

  Clamping down on the depressing thoughts, Raj waited impatiently until he was left alone long enough to escape. Finally, the last of the women left and he could go. With well-fed psychic strength, Raj mentally undid his shackles, simultaneously cleaning the stench of forced sex from his body. As he walked from the cave, he clothed himself in soft, dark clothing. Though the night was fairly warm, he felt chilled to the bone. Adding a long cape, he tried to take some comfort from its enveloping covering. He wondered how long it would be before he again felt comfortable in his own skin.

  The relief he experienced when he left the village behind and picked up Ahnika’s trail just outside the walled courtyard in the forest, was enormous. Making sure to put plenty of distance between the bizarre villagers before he stopped to rest, he carefully covered both his mental and physical tracks, just in case the community had a female Hunter.

  He was also careful to maintain a shield from the seeking threads of Ahnika’s soul. Unwilling to share the degradation he felt, he knew it was crazy, but he didn’t want the filth of the last few nilts to tarnish her.

  Finally, when he’d walked until he could go no further, he stopped to rest and fell asleep under a tree.

  The next suns rise, he woke up feeling very strange and dizzy. Trying to contact Mica, Raj couldn’t seem to get his mind to work. He worried at first that he was sick from a side effect of the potion the women had given him, but this was something else…it didn’t take long for him to realize he was extremely ill and needed help. He would have to delay his attempt to find Ahnika.

  As he started for his home in the city of Zelph, at first he was able to move short distances with a thought or summon enough strength to transform into the dragon-looking Peela. This ability helped him close the distance he needed to travel.

  As time wore on, he didn’t have enough energy to stay in any form but his own. He’d almost made it to Zelph’s boundaries when a band of thieves attacked him. Once they realized he didn’t have anything of value, they took turns beating him and, in his current condition, he couldn’t fight back. After they’d left him for dead, he managed to literally crawl the final distance to his home.

  Chapter Four

  A setnon later

  Raj strode through the majestic halls of the Selven Refuge having already stashed a few things in the room he used only for sleep and a little privacy whenever he visited. The High Prie
stess of the Selven stood at the end of the hall and called him to her. Shalan was an incredibly striking woman with long, very light blonde hair he’d never seen out of braids. Radiating power, she had eyes an intense violet shade and Raj knew if she wanted, those eyes would see entirely too much.

  One of the strongest oracles on Zylar, if Shalan decided to delve into his mind and see what had happened while he’d been hunting Ahnika, she could do it easily. Nothing would be kept from her—not his misery at the hands of the women of Jandai, or his frustration in dealing with Ahnika’s soul trails. After taking a setnon to heal from an insect bite while on his last hunt, he didn’t have the strength to use any psychic shielding.

  A fair and just leader of the Selven, Shalan had been chosen after the last High Priestess had kept Tar separated from his mate. Newly arrived on Zylar, Nyssa hadn’t understood the ramifications of running from her link-mate after their bonding ceremony—but the previous High Priestess did, and she’d used Nyssa’s lack of knowledge against them hoping it would kill Tar and allow her to take over the throne. Shalan and several of the other goddesses had discovered her plans and helped to restrain her. The goddesses had then taken a vote had and selected Shalan as their new leader on the strength of her compassion and her skills as a healer.

  The Selven goddesses were women who had, for their own reasons, made the choice to never link with any male. Instead they went through a cleansing ceremony that physically removed the genetic triggers for the release of the mating links from their body. They trained and studied both psychic and healing arts and were responsible throughout many life cycles for the development of unknown psychic talents and dozens of medicinal cures.

  These women lived as a communal group within the fortress called Selven Refuge, or, as it was commonly known, the gathering place. Raj smiled fondly and thought to himself, a gathering place for exceptional women.

  The goddesses were freed from link bonding with any male, yet many of them gloried in unfettered sexuality. Their willingness definitely benefited him. Otherwise his Vampen nature and abilities would have been almost impossible to feed.

  Many young Zylan males, before searching for their link mate, came to the Refuge to spend time with the Selven. Here they trained in the erotic arts. The practice had never been questioned, it was felt a man had a better chance of keeping his mate happy if he knew what he was doing. Raj grimaced. This rite of passage was likely to change if Tar’s Earth-mate, Nyssa, or his own brother’s wife, Tala, had anything to say about it.

  And Nyssa and Tala had a veritable litany of things to say. Most of which started with sentences containing “Women’s Rights” and segued into words like “equality for the sexes” Smiling, he realized the influence Nyssa had on their language. More and more Earth sayings were working themselves into Zylan speech.

  Coming from Earth, Nyssa’s view of how things should be caused sparks to fly around the ruling place. Tar’s love for her and Nyssa’s influence with her mate helped the Ruler see how the male-dominated society of Zylar affected women, and many of the antiquated laws and practices were changing. Nyssa had rammed the point home by mentioning that they would likely have a daughter some day, asking if Tar really wanted his daughter to grow up in a world were she was expected to do no more than keep her mate happy and bear his children. After much silence, his answer had been no.

  The last conversation Raj participated in with the foursome had made his head hurt. Nyssa was very coldly informing her husband that she, as the Ruler of Zylar’s mate, would be setting up a male equivalent to the Selven Refuge to “train” women in the erotic arts and how to use their links. Tala was adamantly supportive of the effort. Both Tar and Mica had looked dumbfounded and Raj left the room chuckling when the other men started to sputter.

  The men’s comments weren’t making sense to him and he didn’t have a mate. He certainly wouldn’t want his Life Companion going to a male refuge to learn about sex. Nyssa would say he was a pig. Well, he didn’t know what a pig was, but he knew when she called Tar one she hadn’t been flattering.

  But for this bi-non, unlinked men of all ages were welcomed at the Refuge. For him, their existence was a vital necessity. The Refuge was the only place where he could completely feed his Vampen requirements. The goddesses would stand in line for the opportunity to spend time with him and to assist in taking care of his every erotic requirement, allowing him the opportunity to enhance his psychic power when he fed.

  Well, he was in the perfect place to give those abilities a much-needed boost. If getting lost in the sensations turned out to be harder than it used to be, too bad…he didn’t have a choice until he found his mate. Raj gave himself a mental shake, he needed to snap away from the memories and remind himself how he used to enjoy this. Well, enjoy wasn’t exactly the word he would apply to this situation. Thrived…maybe. Fed on it…most definitely. But the women in Jandai had changed him.

  Feeling sorry for his situation wouldn’t feed his Vampen strength, nor would the realization that this time with the Selven, he would leave miserable and unsatisfied. Having only fed from—and not shared in—the passion, Raj knew, until he found his mate, Vampen feeding would be more of a chore than a joy.

  Shalan interrupted his thoughts. “Raj, how wonderful to see you doing so well.” Such a beautiful man with wavy, dark brown hair and a well-formed muscular body that filled out his tunic and pants. His pale blue eyes seemed somewhat sad and preoccupied and she wondered if she should dip into his thoughts and see if she could do anything to help. Maybe he’d ask her for assistance. She hated prying without a specific need. “May I speak with you privately for a minon?”

  “Sure, Shalan. What do you need?” As Raj replied he followed her through a door at the end of the hall.

  Once they were behind closed doors in a small antechamber, Shalan turned to him. “Would you like something to eat or drink? I wanted to find out how you are feeling, Raj. I know Mica was very concerned with your health. Are you back to your normal energy reserves?”

  Pushing his inner turmoil away, he smiled broadly and answered her, “Almost, Shalan. A couple of sessions with the goddesses and I will be at full power. You know I was completely drained after my illness. Thank Zylar’s moons for the Selven! If I didn’t have your sanctuary and the women willing to help, it would take me a life cycle to feed this time. I don’t need anything right now to eat or drink. I am impatient to get back to trying to locate the woman I was tracking when I became injured.”

  Shalan snorted. “Oh, believe me, the goddesses are more than willing to help. I will be lucky if I don’t have to break up an argument or two while you are here…they are so willing. Which reminds me…I have something for you that may help with your energy. But first I wanted to ask you what made you so ill? Mica didn’t go into any detail in the short time he was here claiming Tala and, as a healer, I am very interested in what happened to you. Can you tell me anything about what caused your illness?” Her light teasing only brought a slight smile to Raj’s face. She sensed a change in Raj—in the past, this man had been all sensual light, happy to be here and raring to go. Now there was something different in his demeanor…something dark. It seemed almost as if he were dreading his time with them.

  “Evidently I was bitten by a Zylan Nej. Have you heard of them, Shalan?”

  Frowning and shaking her head, she asked, “No. What’s a Nej?”

  Raj remembered what one of the ancient healers had told Mica. “According to, Naja, the Nej is a spider-type insect long thought to be extinct. They have one fang and, if you are bitten, the venom it injects through this fang moves quickly through the bloodstream to your brain. From Mica’s description, this venom somehow creates its own web and wraps the victim’s mind up in a sort of cocoon. My bodily functions continued and while Mica thought I was unconscious, I still had some ability to understand what was going on around me. I could hear but couldn’t react and I remember almost everything said and done to me. I think if my body had b
een healthy instead of damaged from the thieves’ attack, I could have moved around. But I was completely worn out and couldn’t respond or move in any way. I couldn’t talk or lift a finger to do anything to help myself. My mind was there, yet it was locked away from my body, unable to make any connection to move or speak. When Toma would tell me to drink, I would try very hard to comply, but my injuries were just too severe. Naja is giving Mica some old texts that might help him to look into the Nej’s history and see what he can find.”

  “Like the Nubes,” she whispered in awe. Could this be it? Could the answer to the Nubes’ problems be as simple as an insect bite?

  “Sorry, Shalan, I didn’t catch what you said?”

  “Nothing, Raj, it’s not important right now. I will have to talk to your brother in more detail about the Nej.”

  “Well, any chance he gets, Mica has been studying what he can find out about them, talking to all the ancients as well. I am sure he knows more about them now than he did when he healed me. Mica mentioned I didn’t have any brain activity that he could trace and I was so tired, I forgot to tell him I knew what was going on around me. I need to remember to tell him…it might be important,” he replied absently.

  “I’ll tell him as you will be hunting again soon and may not have the opportunity. I think the fact you were aware of your surroundings when you appeared comatose is very important. I will also search our healing archives for any mention of the Nej,” Shalan offered.

  “Great. I’d better go, Shalan. I need to get back on the trail of my latest job, and I am not quite up to speed yet.” His response seemed halfhearted. Watching his mood change and bewilderment replace his carefree grin, she wondered again about what had happened to this man over the last setnon. “Shalan, can I ask you a question?”