34. Phoebe

34

PHOEBE

S he woke up to see a woman with gray eyes and blonde hair leaning over her.

"Hi there, I'm Doctor Olivia but you can call me Liv," she said as Phoebe blinked up at her.

"Uh…what? Where am I?" Phoebe looked around uncertainly.

"In the main Med Center. Commander Sylvan and your coworker brought you in—you fainted in Sylvan's office," Liv told her.

"I what?" Phoebe tried to sit up and moaned as the world started spinning again.

"Hey, just relax for now—okay?" The blonde doctor pressed her shoulder, easing her gently back down onto the exam bed.

"Why am I so dizzy?" Phoebe moaned. "And so tingly?"

Because the persistent tingling that she'd been feeling ever since she removed The Finger of the Goddess was back and stronger than ever. Also, the feeling of emptiness inside her had grown—she felt like she had a black hole at her center—a yawning void that longed to be filled! But filled with what? She didn't know.

"Well, that's what we're trying to find out," Liv told her. "Now tell me what's going on—I understand you just got back from an interstellar mission. Did you eat or drink something questionable while you were away from the Mother Ship?"

"I don't think so," Phoebe murmured. In fact, she hadn't eaten or drunk anything on Salacious Prime but the can of Sparkler that had made her act like a sex starved lunatic and then forget everything the next morning. She ought to be hungry but right now all she felt was empty inside—like she needed to be filled, only not with food.

"Okay, let's talk about it. What else might have happened while you were away?" Liv persisted.

"I—" Phoebe began.

"I'll tell you what happened—she touched The Finger of the Goddess with her bare hands."

The new voice was familiar. Phoebe turned her head and saw that Sirex was standing in the doorway of the exam room, a worried look on his face.

"She what? Pardon me, Commander Sirex, but I asked you to wait outside." Liv sounded slightly exasperated.

"I said , she touched it with her bare hand," Sirex repeated. "It's a rare and ancient artifact that's dangerous to women." Ignoring the frown Liv was giving him, he came into the room and looked down at Phoebe. "Are you all right?" he asked, looking at her anxiously.

"I'm fine," Phoebe protested, even though it obviously wasn't true. "I just need some rest, that's all."

"You'll need more than that to get over touching The Finger of the Goddess," Sirex said grimly.

"I'm afraid Sirex might be right." It was Commander Sylvan, coming into the exam room as well. "Forgive me, Olivia, but I think we need some outside advice to solve this," he said to the blonde doctor. "I've taken the liberty of calling Nadia. Since she's the High Priestess of the Goddess on First World, she has information on the artifact that Agent Jenkins touched."

"All right, when can we talk to her?" Liv asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I've asked the Communications Department to patch her call through right to this room." Commander Sylvan gestured at the flat screen mounted on the far wall of the exam room.

Just as he finished speaking, the screen flickered and a beautiful woman with blonde hair and turquoise eyes appeared on it. She was wearing a long white robe and she smiled broadly when she caught sight of Commander Sylvan.

"Sylvan! There you are! I heard you had news for me about The Finger of the Goddess!"

"So we do, cousin." Sylvan nodded at her. "I sent two agents to retrieve it for you and I have it now in my possession. But we have a problem?—"

"Phoebe touched The Finger of the Goddess with her bare skin," Sirex burst out. He looked more worried than Phoebe had ever seen him—clearly he couldn't wait for Commander Sylvan to finish.

Nadia's lovely greenish-blue eyes went wide.

"Truly? You have a woman who touched The Finger of the Goddess with her bare hands?"

"Er, yes." Phoebe cleared her throat and tried to sit up in bed. This time, she was successful which was good—lying down while everyone else was standing made her feel too damn vulnerable. "I had no choice—I had to touch it," she added, looking up at the Head Priestess. "It was the only way to get it away from the place they were hiding it."

Nadia frowned.

"And how long did you touch it for?"

"Oh, um…" Phoebe tried to think how long she'd had the smooth opalescent crystal inside her. "At least an hour," she said finally. "Maybe more."

"You held it for that long?" Nadia exclaimed. "Why?"

"I didn't have a choice," Phoebe repeated. "Look, how much trouble am I in? I mean, is it radioactive or something? Did…did I give myself a lethal dose of whatever it is?"

She was hoping that the Head Priestess would say something like, "No, no—nothing like that!" and calm her fears. Instead, Nadia closed her eyes for a long moment. When she opened them, they were much more green than blue.

"All the males must leave the room," she said firmly. "I must speak to Phoebe. Olivia, you may stay as well."

Sirex didn't look happy about leaving but Commander Sylvan put a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Come—I believe that Nadia is communing with the Goddess. We must not resist her orders."

When the men finally left, closing the door behind them, Nadia turned to Phoebe again.

"There is something you're not telling me," she said, frowning. "Something about how you hid The Finger of the Goddess and why you retained contact with it for so long. Tell me."

Phoebe bit her lip. She'd been determined to take this particular detail to her grave…but there was no refusing the stern Head Priestess.

"I…I had to hide it inside myself," she said in a low voice. "I had on this crazy outfit that showed everything. I mean, basically I was naked and there was no place else to hide it. I knew if anyone saw me with it, they'd take it from me. So I kind of just…inserted it. You know… into myself."

"What—like a tampon?" Liv asked blankly.

"Phoebe nodded.

"It was the only way. I'm sorry—I hope I haven't, er, defiled the artifact or anything like that," she added quickly. She also hoped she hadn't given herself some kind of rare and dangerous poisoning but she was too afraid to ask that.

"Don't worry, you haven't poisoned yourself—nor have you defiled the artifact," Nadia assured her, as though reading her mind. "But you have given yourself a serious disease—one you cannot cure on your own."

"A disease?" Phoebe felt like her heart had stopped dead in her chest. "What kind of disease?" she demanded.

"And how can I help to cure it?" Liv asked anxiously.

"You cannot help her. Only a male may help," Nadia told them. She looked at Phoebe. "Tell me—directly before, during, or after you were handling The Finger of the Goddess, did you have any kind of sexual contact with a male?"

"Oh, er…" Phoebe squirmed on the exam table.

"Please tell me everything—there is no judgment here," Nadia said gently, clearly seeing her hesitation.

"I just…while we were on Salacious Prime, Sirex and I had to play parts," she began. "It's a male dominated world so I was pretending to be his Sex Slave and he was my ‘Master.' So we…er, touched each other in ways we wouldn't have otherwise. I mean, in a normal work situation."

"Did you receive his seed inside yourself?" Nadia asked.

"Um…" Phoebe could feel herself blushing—her whole face felt hot. "I…I may have, er, ingested some," she admitted at last. "But I didn't get any in my…anyplace else." She pointed to the spot between her legs and shook her head.

"Okay, so you swallowed some but you didn't have actual penetrative sex with Commander Sirex—right?" Liv asked, raising her eyebrows.

"That's right." Phoebe was grateful for the kind doctor's translation. "I mean, I know that sounds really unprofessional but I was given a drink called ‘Sparkler' that tasted like a mimosa and made me lose all my inhibitions," she went on earnestly. "And later Sirex found out that they used The Goddess's Finger when they were making it."

Nadia's eyebrows shot up.

"So you got a double dose of The Goddess's Finger? No wonder you're having trouble!"

"About that," Phoebe said, sitting up straighter. "Can you tell me exactly what disease I have and how to cure it? I'm getting really nervous over here!"

"The name of the disease is ‘The Emptiness' though some call it ‘Breeding Fever,'" Nadia told her. "You see, whenever a woman has direct contact with The Goddess's Finger, it causes her sexual hunger to overflow and her body to get ready to conceive. It's one reason the priestesses are forbidden to touch the Finger without some protection—it causes them to break their vows of purity if they come into direct contact with the artifact."

"So…you're saying that Phoebe's body has gone into a kind of super ovulation?" Liv asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Essentially." Nadia nodded. "What it craves right now is male seed—a lot of it. And specifically from the male she was touching during the time she was exposed to The Finger of the Goddess."

"But Sirex isn't my partner or my lover—he's just a coworker!" Phoebe protested. "Well, he's more than that—he's my mentor too. He trained me to be an agent. He was such a good teacher." She sighed.

"It sounds to me like you have deep feelings that go beyond friendship or gratitude for this male," Nadia said softly.

Phoebe nodded.

"I'm in love with him," she admitted. "I have been since I met him.

But he doesn't have any of those kinds of feelings for me. He made it very clear that once we got back to the Mother Ship we were going to just be coworkers again—nothing more."

"You think he doesn't care for you?" Liv raised her eyebrows. "After the way he burst in here and was so worried about you? Those aren't the actions of a man who only likes you as a friend, Phoebe."

"I don't know what to think!" Phoebe admitted. "I thought for a while there could be something between us, but then he decided that we had gone too far and needed to pull back some. So what am I supposed to do—say ‘no, I love you and I don't want to go back to being friends'? Of course I can't say that," she went on, answering her own question. "And I certainly can't go asking him for his ‘seed.'"

"You don't just need his seed—you need him to breed you," Nadia emphasized. "He doesn't have to Bond you to him—though it would be better if he did—but you need him to try and get you pregnant. Or at least make your body believe he's trying to get you pregnant."

"What?" Phoebe nearly fell off the exam table. "What are you talking about? How can I ask him that?" she demanded.

"Take it easy," Liv said, patting her comfortingly on the shoulder. "I don't know if you know this but Kindred males can't get you pregnant unless you Bond with them. And you can't do that without having Bonding Sex."

"What does that mean?" Phoebe shook her head. "I don't understand. What does Bonding Sex consist of?"

"With some kinds of Kindred they just have to ejaculate inside you," Liv told her. "But for most of them, Bonding Sex is an extra step. For Beast Kindred, like my own husband, they have to use their knot on you—their Mating Fist as they call it. For Twin Kindred, the two twins have to join together to form a single large shaft to Bond with their chosen female."

"And for Blood Kindred, the male has to have his fangs buried in your vein, injecting his essence at the same time he shoots his seed in you to Bond with you," Nadia added helpfully.

"Sirex has fangs—he healed me with his essence," Phoebe said. "He's half Blood Kindred."

"Excellent! So as long as he doesn't bite you and the two of you just, you know, get busy, you should be all right," Liv said brightly. "See? Problem solved!"

"Hell no, the problem isn't solved!" Phoebe protested. "I still have to go to my mentor and ask him to screw me!"

Liv gave her a little smile.

"I think he might be more willing to help cure your Breeding Fever than you think."

"That is untrue—something is holding him back," Nadia's eyes were greener than ever, as though she was seeing into the situation in a way that neither Phoebe or Liv could do. "He has a deeply held regret or assumption about himself that makes him feel unworthy of love," she mumured.

Phoebe bit her lip. She thought she might know the problem—Sirex believed he was a Broken One. Their time together on Salacious Prime seemed to have enforced that idea—probably because he'd had to dominate her and tie her up and then, worst of all, pierce her nipples.

He thinks there's something wrong with him because he enjoys BDSM, but there's not, she thought. But how can I convince him otherwise?

She had no idea. And she couldn't tell Nadia or Liv about her mentor's kinky desires—that wasn't her secret to tell.

But when she looked up at the High Priestess again, she could tell that Nadia already knew somehow. Also, her eyes had gone solid green and her skin seemed to be glowing. She opened her mouth but when she spoke, a voice unlike her regular tone came out.

"Daughter, you must convince the male I have sent to you of his worth," she said. "You will remember what was forgotten at the right time. For now, simply go to him."

Then the glow left and Nadia sagged for a moment, panting.

"Are you all right?" Liv asked anxiously.

"Fine. It's just…hosting the Goddess takes a lot out of you. Even if it's only for a minute." Nadia took a deep breath and straightened up. "What did she say through me?"

Phoebe was still in awe of the fact that they had been in the presence of an actual deity—even if only briefly. But somehow she managed to speak.

"She told me to go to Sirex and convince him of his worth," she said. "And she also said I would remember something I had forgotten at the right time."

"Is there something you forgot that's important?" Liv asked, frowning.

Phoebe shook her head.

"I don't know. I… ohhhh … Her last words came out as a moan as another wave of emptiness hit her.

"Hey, are you all right?" Liv asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"The Emptiness inside her is getting worse," Nadia said grimly. "She must be filled with male seed very soon."

"Then we need to get you to Sirex," Liv told her. "Or should I just call him in and talk to him here?"

"Oh, you don't have to talk to him!" Phoebe exclaimed. "I can manage on my own. Besides, what are you going to do—write me a prescription for sex?"

"If I have to," Liv said grimly. "Especially if it's a matter of life or death." She looked at Nadia who nodded her head.

"It is. That's one reason we've always kept a vanguard of unmated male guards around the temple. In the ancient days back when we still had The Goddess's Finger housed here, we had to have available males around to help save a priestess's life if she accidentally touched it."

"Wow, that's some interesting guard duty," Liv said dryly. "Thank you for all the information, Nadia—is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"Just that the breeding needs to be forceful," the High Priestess said. "Tell the male who breeds you not to hold back," she told Phoebe. Then she turned back to Liv. "And give Sophie my love."

"I will. We have to take a trip to First World to see you again soon." Liv blew her a kiss which Nadia returned.

"You're always welcome. Now I have to go and you have to get your patient her treatment." She nodded at Phoebe. "Remember, the Goddess means for the two of you to be together so don't be shy—take what you need to heal. Breeding Fever can kill you if you don't treat it correctly and promptly."

"I understand." Phoebe nodded. She was afraid she mgight feel another wave of emptiness creeping up on her. It was awful to feel so desperately sexually needy—she just hoped that Sirex would be willing to help her.

Otherwise, she didn't know what she was going to do.