Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 86074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Oh, Dark Kindred?” Her eyes grew wide.
“Yes,” Light said, nodding. “Which means we aren’t gestated in a womb like most warriors—our DNA is mixed by Tolleg scientists and we’re grown in Gestation Tanks.”
Dark waited to see what the little Elite would think about that. Probably, she wouldn’t like it. Unfortunately, the Dark Kindred had attacked Earth some years past. They had been driven to do so by The Collective—the group of malevolent self-aware computers that had once ruled them all. This made a lot of humans—especially the females—frightened of him and his brother. Which was one reason Dark had felt the unfamiliar emotion of surprise when the little female had attached herself to them.
However Lilibet—or Lili, as she called herself—seemed to take their admission in stride.
“I’ve always wondered what the Dark Kindred looked like in person—I was living in a remote area and never saw any of you when…”
“When our people attacked your planet,” Light finished for her. “My brother and I weren’t among those who attacked,” he added.
Dark nodded.
“Our unit was kept back to protect our home world.”
“But we’re very sorry for what was done to Earth,” Light said earnestly.
“As much as we can be, anyway,” Dark growled.
Lili frowned.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Please excuse my brother—what he means is that we’re both new to feeling anything at all,” Light explained quickly. “I’ve only just had my emotion damper removed and Dark still has his in—though it’s turned down at the moment so he can experience emotions.”
“Wow…” She looked at them in wonder. “So…you’ve never had emotions before?”
Light shook his head.
“None before a few days ago when we moved to the Mother Ship. Having emotions is against the law on our home world—they call it ‘committing Feel Crime.’ They even have canines that can smell if you’re feeling—they’re called ‘Sniffers.’”
Her eyes got even wider.
“And what happens if you get caught, uh, ‘committing Feel Crime?’”
Dark barked a laugh that had no humor in it at all.
“Then you get terminated—eradicated. Fucking wiped out,” he added, to be sure she understood.
“Just for having feelings?” she exclaimed. Leaning forward, she put a hand on each of their arms. “I’m so sorry—that’s terrible.”
“It was, for those whose emotion dampers had failed,” Light said candidly. “They started having emotions and were unable to do anything about it until the Sniffers found them out and they were terminated.”
“Or in some cases they were fucking unwilling to do anything about it,” Dark pointed out.
He had never understood why the warriors who started to have problems with their dampers didn’t simply go get them fixed. But now he thought he was beginning to get it. Having emotions—especially good ones like the ones he’d felt when Lili was kissing him—was pleasant.
Extremely fucking pleasant, he thought, remembering how hard his cock had gotten. He’d gotten hard for the Pairing Puppet he and Light had tried to share, but it had been a purely physical reaction. Adding the emotional component—the attraction and interest he felt for the little human Elite—had opened a whole new world that he wanted very much to explore.
Lili looked at the two of them with wide eyes.
“It’s amazing that you two survived living that way for so long—what a fascinating life!”
She sounded like she really meant it, which was nice, Dark thought. One thing he and Light had learned about humans was that they were often disingenuous. Instead of being straightforward when they were bored or disinterested, they pretended interest to be “polite.” He disliked this trait—it made more sense to say what you were really thinking in his opinion.
Light felt the same, though he was better at hiding his displeasure and keeping his feelings to himself. When Dark had an emotion, he didn’t care who knew it. But then, the Light Twin always had been the more diplomatic of the two of them.
From the way the little female was leaning towards him and Light and looking up at them as they spoke made Dark feel she really did care what he was saying. She wasn’t “acting” like some other humans—she really was engaged.
“I’ve heard that Dark Kindred have robot parts—that they’re almost cyborgs,” she said. “Do you guys have any, uh, cybernetic parts?”
Light nodded.
“We both do. My legs are enhanced, though you can’t tell with my uniform trousers on.”
“Mine are more visible.” Dark put his enhanced arm on the table for her to examine. The metal sheath that covered his arm and hand glinted in the dim blue light of the club.
He also activated the retractable scope that covered his left eye, which allowed him to see extreme distances as well as microscopic particles. In addition, while using it he could see in infrared or shoot a deadly laser beam that emitted from the scope with pinpoint accuracy.
Light’s enhancements made him an excellent scout, because he was able to run faster and jump higher when he went to pinpoint the location of the enemy. But Dark’s enhancements—along with his Berserker DNA—made him a deadly killing machine.