"Vonda N. McIntyre - Little Faces" - читать интересную книгу автора (McIntyre Vonda N)

Little Faces


by Vonda N. McIntyre



The blood woke Yalnis. It ran between her thighs, warm and slick, cooling, sticky. She pushed back
from the stain on the silk, bleary with sleep and love, rousing to shock and stabbing pain.

She flung off the covers and scrambled out of bed. She cried out as the web of nerves tore apart. Her
companions shrieked a chaotic chorus.

Zorargul's small form convulsed just below her navel. The raw edges of a throat wound bled in
diminishing gushes. Her body expelled the dying companion, closing off veins and vesicles.

Zorargul was beyond help. She wrapped her hand around the small broken body as it slid free. She sank
to the floor. Blood dripped onto the cushioned surface. The other companions retreated into her,
exposing nothing but sharp white teeth that parted and snapped in defense and warning.

Still in bed, blinking, yawning, Seyyan propped herself on her elbow. She gazed at the puddle of blood.
It soaked in, vanishing gradually from edge to center, drawn away to be separated into its molecules and
stored.

A smear of blood marked Seyyan's skin. Her first companion blinked its small bright golden eyes. It
snapped its sharp teeth, spattering scarlet droplets. It shrieked, licked its bloody lips, cleaned its teeth
with its tongue. The sheet absorbed the blood spray.

Seyyan lay back in the soft tangled nest, elegantly lounging, her luxuriant brown hair spilling its curls
around her bare shoulders and over her delicate perfect breasts. She shone like molten gold in the
starlight. Her other companions pushed their little faces from her belly, rousing themselves and clacking
their teeth, excited and jealous.

"Zorargul," Yalnis whispered. She had never lost a companion. She chose them carefully, and cherished
them, and Zorargul had been her first, the gift of her first lover. She looked up at Seyyan, confused and
horrified, shocked by loss and pain.

"Come back." Seyyan spoke with soft urgency. She stretched out her graceful hand. "Come back to
bed." Her voice intensified. "Come back to me."

Yalnis shrank from her touch. Seyyan followed, sliding over the fading bloodstain in the comfortable nest
of ship silk. Her first companion extruded itself, just below her navel, staring intently at Zorargul's body.

Seyyan stroked Yalnis's shoulder. Yalnis pushed her away with her free hand, leaving bloody fingerprints
on Seyyan's golden skin.

Seyyan grabbed her wrist and held her, moved to face her squarely, touched her beneath her chin and
raised her head to look her in the eyes. Baffled and dizzy, Yalnis blinked away tears. Her remaining
companions pumped molecular messages of distress and anger into her blood.
"Come back to me," Seyyan said again. "We're ready for you."