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Another smile. “We have. The first attempts miscarried, but we have four who are close to coming to term. So far, no births. Only one of the skins allows for us to harvest sperm, at this time. With all the others, either the sperm isn’t viable to start, or there are miscarriages early on.”
“I would want any such children to have reached the age of twenty-eight before I made the attempt.”
“Agreed. I feel the same. Would you like another coffee?”
“Thank you, but no. One was plenty, and I should be getting back to my people. Thank you for the information. It’s appreciated.”
“You are close to a slayer.”
“I am.”
“Do you intend to share this conversation with him?”
“Is this the reason Etta and I were chosen to wear the suits? Do you wish the slayers to have this information?”
“They already know Alaric and I are part of it, and it seems it might be good for those with level heads who can see the shades between black and white to understand why certain decisions are being made.”
“You’re looking to find a path towards a negotiation.”
When he didn’t say anything, I told him, “I believe a large concern involves putting the skin on an animal and then training him or her in the use of weaponry. An animal without a conscience, without human morals, without society’s programmed ethics, would kill whoever he’s sent to kill, should the reward system be adequate.”
“The Celrau began this program, and they are spearheading that end of the research. I’m afraid I don’t have any answers for you about their agenda. It’s my understanding that it’s a legitimate concern, but it’s also going to continue no matter the decisions of the Concilio.”
“Clever, separating them out. It gives this avenue more of a chance.”
“Regardless, your slayer needs to understand he won’t stop the animal experiments if he finds a way to end our research and development.”
Chapter 15
Marco
I shared what Bain had told me with the others, and before we could begin discussing what we were going to share back home, and with whom, Venom said, “First things first, we need to see if we can fix your scent. Etta’s is wrong as well, but yours makes me want to lash out at you.”
I nodded, because I agreed this was high on the list of problems we needed to fix. “The Concilio has a dolphin shifter available for torture on the room service menu. His scent is different enough, the addition of his blood and ejaculate should help throw our scents off. This, combined with another big orgy and feeding, should hopefully be a nice start to fixing whatever the fuck the goddamned skin did to us.”
The Concilio gives numbers to most of their slaves, but the sex slaves also get names, and the dolphin shifter we rented for three hours was named Pio.
The sitting room in our suite had a hook in the middle of the room, recessed up into the ceiling, but everyone knew what it was for. A heavy chain was in the lower cabinet of the little kitchenette, and I levitated up to attach the chain to the hook. Levitating took more concentration and power than I expected, but I tried not to let the others know.
Pio was delivered to us, rather than being allowed to walk to us, which told me he wasn’t completely under the control of his masters. Considering who his masters were, this was beyond interesting.
His wrist and ankle cuffs were locked on, as was his collar, and it seemed to me that all five were magicked to keep him from changing. Normally, one magicked cuff is plenty.
Rather than ask him any of the questions this raised, I stepped behind him, connected his wrist cuffs together, and then struck and bit the side of his neck from behind without warning. The second his blood hit my system, I tunneled into his mind and saw so much power, I wondered that they’d been able to enslave him at all.
I also saw that he was enslaved because he thought humans should know about supernaturals. He’d been a great leader of the dolphins, and he’d been intending to go on live television at a major sporting event, change into his half form, and then have hundreds of shifters in the audience do the same while he explained what was happening. So, not evil, just young and idealistic.
And his blood might be a little intoxicating. Fuck.
When I lived in Norway a few centuries earlier, I had a blue shark in my flock. Many water-shifters choose to live most of their lives in the water, where they don’t have to worry about things like rent, electricity, and clothes. Some, however, crave knowledge and intellectual stimulation, and this young man oathed to me as food so I would house him and pay for his college tuition.
I’ve never had the opportunity to drink from a dolphin, however. I expected him to taste much as the shark had, but sharks are fish and dolphins are mammals. There was a slightly fishy undertone to the taste of the dolphin’s blood, but it was subtle. However, the most notable taste was a hint of Aos Sí, a major race in Faerie, and the reason vampires aren’t allowed there — the blood of the Aos Sí is irresistible to vampires, and it makes us go out of control.
I took three long drinks and stopped. We’d gorge on his blood after we played with him.
Ranger took up his post by the door, and Venom walked Pio to the center of the room, but before he could string the young man up, I said, “The bed might be a better choice to start, now that I’ve met our young Pio.”
“I’m thirty-seven years old,” the dolphin shifter told us, “Don’t treat me like a child.”
