I can see others dressed to the nines as they flock up a giant set of stairs to an enormous glittering mansion. The shaking in my legs just won’t stop now, and all I can think about is poor Falax trapped in the spidery clutches of his ex. I feel a pang of guilt for even thinking those things about him before. I don’t know why I had doubted him in the first place.
The limo glides to a graceful stop by the bottom of the stairs. The door whooshes open, and I straighten my shoulders. I shouldn't be scared. In fact, as I step onto a glossy red carpet with my black stilettos, I feel a great surge of importance as I remember my true mission. After all, I'm the great smuggler Becca, and I'm here to save my man and look hella good doing it. There's no way I'm letting some insect sink her teeth into Falax. Not while I'm alive.
I can feel the eyes on me as I proudly stride up the steps. I'm wearing a tight-corseted gown. If my best pushup bra could make my girls look good, you can bet the corsets from Yuta can do even better. At the bottom of it, thin wispy layers of chiffon hang over my legs, a long slit slicing up to my upper thigh. The fabric sparkles as if the stars themselves were embedded into it. I've even done my makeup. Dark eyeliner for an edgy feel, with glittery feathers dangling from my eyelashes.
Call me extra, but if I'm going to meet my husband's ex, I need to pull out all the stops. I sparkle my way up the stairs, flipping my curled hair over my shoulder in a sassy gesture and take each step with purpose. I can hear the curious murmurs and am grateful that I'm not entirely recognizable amongst the most well-known criminals in the galaxy.
The party seems innocent on the outside, but once I’ve handed my phony invitation to the guards at the front, I’m suddenly bombarded by an incredible sensory experience. Lights and music pulse around a grand foyer as a live band plays strange alien instruments. At the center, there’s a golden fountain, the water flowing from it appearing as liquid gold. I make a circle around the room, keeping my feathered eyes open over the rim of a cocktail glass. No sign of Falax over here.
Until I hear a roaring fanfare. The partygoers turn to look at the top of the stairs. Then…I see her. Alani. I have to admit, she's very beautiful and beautifully deadly at that. Something or someone is dangling oddly from her shoulder, and it only takes a second for me to realize that it's a dressed up Falax. He's been stuffed into a nice tux and hangs limply from Alani's clutches as if he were being held up like a marionette.
"So glad you could all be here today," Alani says, clapping her excited hands together. "My…partner and I are very pleased to see so many familiar faces." For a split second, I almost feel like she looks over at me, though it's hard to tell from this distance. She goes on and on about the party, but all I can think about is the raging storm of hatred flowing through every single one of my veins. I can't wait for her to finish so I can give her a real piece of my mind.
Thunderous applause breaks my train of thought, and Alani whisks Falax away as she disappears down a hallway. Falax seems to have no idea of what's going on as his head lolls around his shoulders. I'm just about to go up the stairs after them when I hear a familiar voice saying "And where did they find a handsome guy like you?" I swivel on my heels to see a massive mountain of an alien. Heaping layers of skin. Deep set yellow eyes. Horns piercing through his too-tight tuxedo. Kagin.
My heart nearly stops dead in my chest. During my frantic and unnecessary suspicions of Falax and Alani, I had completely forgotten about the Hearts of Reina. Surely, Falax knows where they are now. But if Kagin knows I'm here before we can get them to him, he'll sic his team of bodyguards on me without question. I lift up the trails of my skirts as I dodge through the crowd. He's occupied with a handsome human waiter, a rare sight for me in this corner of the galaxy. But I don't have time to shake hands with a fellow earthling.
I have to gather my surroundings, but it’s so hard with all the commotion going on. There are guards at every door, preventing curious partygoers from wandering into the thousands of rooms this mansion probably contains. As I keep a watchful eye on Kagin, I also try to find a way past the guards. I need to get upstairs somehow without getting myself kicked out. With my back pressed against an ornamented wall, my attention suddenly turns down a long golden hallway. At the end, two doors slide open, and a small alien pushing a cart of food steps out.
I watch carefully as she makes her way towards a long buffet table nearby, loading up the empty cart with food. Once again cursing my heels, I stumble through the crowd again until I can just barely reach it. It’s a large cart, with a sliding door on the side. Double-checking for any suspicious onlookers, I casually push the door aside and quickly duck into the cart.
The ride is bumpy and almost disorienting, but I can hear the sounds of the party fading away under the duh-dunk, duh-dunk of the cart’s wheels, soon replaced by the ding of an elevator as the doors close. There’s a brief silence, before the duh-dunk, duh-dunk begins again. This carries on for a moment until I finally come to a stop. I have no idea where I am, but I can only hope that it’s near Falax and Alani.
I wait until dishes are removed from the cart, followed by footsteps fading away down another tiled hallway. I somersault out from my hiding place, gathering myself and fixing my now-disheveled hair before sneaking behind her, tracing her steps until I’m next to a banister that lets me see the party going on below. Kagin’s still down there, acting so casual that it sends a shiver up my spine. He’s a cold-blooded killer behind his smile.
Sneaking past the banister, I get to another corner and just barely peek around it. I can see Alani’s servant knock on a door. It opens, and a long spidery leg emerges, grabbing the plates from her hands. It’s terrifying, and I can’t imagine what the rest of Alani looks like at this point.
The servant disappears, and I wander down the hallway. Luckily, most of the guards are on the bottom floor. Maybe they were given special orders not to hang around this wing. I try to not let my imagination wonder why. I don't even bother to knock. Why waste any more time? Besides, I'm still here to make an entrance. Removing my stiletto, I take a step back and breathe in. With a swift, sharp kick, I knock the door from its hinges and am horrified at what I find on the other side.
It’s a sex dungeon. Odd phallic-shaped devices adorn the walls. Chains, whips, everything under the suns, cover every inch of the room. There’s a table in the back with cuffs at the top, reminiscent of a torture rack from medieval times. Odd red webbing coats the room, spreading from one corner to the next in intricate patterns. A spider’s web for her prey.
And in the center of it is my Falax, dangling from the ceiling in a cocoon of silk. His body remains upright, his eyes staring straight ahead. Alani stands in front of him, wearing a tight leather corset around her delicate torso. It’s almost a scene from a horror movie as she stands on a set of long spider legs. But she’s not planning on having sex with Falax. Instead, she’s holding his jaw open with her hand, breathing in a trail of white fog from his mouth. The veins in her face turn to a soft blue glow, pulsing as they soak in the fog.
She’s sucking the very life out of him! Just like Quin had described. Without another thought, I remove my other heel and bound into the room. It’s not exactly the graceful entrance I had pictured in my mind, but I don’t have time for petty revenge now. This eight-legged freak is literally going to kill my husband if I don’t do something about it first.
"Hey, freak!" I shout. My insult echoes through the high ceiling of the sex dungeon. Alani turns to me, her blue eyes eerily beautiful compared to the rest of her ugly ass. "Ah!" she says, stepping away from Falax as if she wasn't just pulling a fragment of his soul from his lips. "You must be the blushing bride!" "I didn't come here to talk," I say. "I'm here to get my husband back. Oh yeah, and rip off every single one of your limbs."
I'm expecting a witty comeback, but instead, Alani just laughs, revealing her set of sharp fangs. "You want him so badly?" She asks. "Here he is. We've been having so much fun together, though. It seems like he might hav
e forgotten all about you." Reaching up, her hand turns into a pointed razor, slicing into the thick strand of web from Falax. He falls to the floor with a hard thunk, then emerges from the layers of silk. They fall around the shoulders of his nice tux and gather into piles at his feet.
“Take care of this intruder, won’t you sweetie?” She asks, patting him on the head. Falax teeters on his feet. He’s almost unrecognizable, practically a zombie. His eyes are fogged over with white. “Of course, Alani,” he murmurs. “Falax! Don’t!” I cry out, but it’s no use. He’s still in some sort of trance.
So much so, that he doesn’t even know he’s pulling out a jagged knife from his waist and running right towards me.
CHAPTER 9
PARTY’S OVER
BECCA
Falax and I have had our fair share of fights, but absolutely nothing like this. "Honey," I warn as I creep back towards the broken doorway. "Let's try to reason with each other here." I hold out my hands in hopes that he'll slow down and try to make sense of what's going on, but all I can see is the plain emptiness in his eyes, the grey clouds swirling in them as he rushes towards me. The knife shimmers in his iron grip as he swings it right towards my face. I pull back, feeling the faint whoosh of the blade just as it misses the tip of my nose.
I clutch his wrist, holding him tightly in an iron grip. But it isn’t enough. He twists my arm, until I can feel the muscles aching, and flips me onto my back, knocking the wind out of me. I sweep my leg, knocking him down on the ground with me, but he recovers quickly. It’s like this strange trance has induced a superhuman effect on Falax. Alani laughs with delight at the sight of me running in circles trying to avoid the attacks from my husband. I don’t want to hurt him. I can’t bring myself to.
He's fast, but I know out of the two of us, I'm the most agile. I run for the nearest wall, adorned with dozens of crazy sex contraptions. I reluctantly grab onto a wobbly dildo-like device and begin my climb, using each phallic-shaped gadget as my footholds. It's hard for me not to picture what each of them is used for, let alone the last time they've been used or even cleaned, but it's the only way to get away from Falax. I peer down and see him pacing back and forth, like a panther waiting for its prey. He attempts to climb but slips after he grabs onto the first stub in the wall.
I didn’t even think to look for Alani. It seems like her laughing has subsided for now. Just as I’m about to keep climbing, I’m startled once I turn and see her gaping jaws snapping right at my face. She’s attached to the wall, clinging effortlessly to it in a spider-like fashion. “Uh-uh,” she says wagging her finger at me. “This isn’t really a fair fight now, is it?” Her condescending tone is really starting to piss me off. I reach up and swing a fist towards her perfect little face, but she catches it with ease, her fingers tightening against mine, nearly crushing them. “Get back down there. You’re teasing the poor guy,” she says. Suddenly, I’m launched from the wall as she pushes my fist away from her.
The force is enough to stagger my footing, and I fall towards the floor. I land with a sharp thud, a piercing ache shooting through my back as I attempt to roll to a stop. Falax wastes no time in trying to attack me again, and I roll out of the way just as his blade slices towards the floor. It lodges in the cracks of the tiles, and he struggles for a moment to remove it.
I realize now that this is my only chance to get out of here and think of a better solution. Without looking back, I take off running through the empty doorway and back in the hall. I can hear the gala still going strong on the lower floor, and brace myself on the banister to catch my breath. My back is killing me thanks to that stupid stunt Alani pulled on me earlier.
Over the music and the party pumping below, I hear heavy boots making their way closer towards me. Falax is close. I run for the nearest set of stairs, which happen to be the giant ones leading down to the foyer. He chases after me, his face dead serious, his forehead wrinkled with concentration which leads me to believe that Alani’s spell really has a strong hold on him, and he’ll stop at nothing until his mission is complete.
I know I couldn’t hurt him, but I’m running out of options until I can find out what to do about this. He swings the blade at me again, and it whips across my bare arm. I cry out in shock, staring at the fresh blood starting to seep from my new wound. “Damn it! Are you serious, Falax?!” I shout as I reach under my skirts. Desperate times call for desperate measures, especially now that my husband has drawn some of my blood. He’s lucky he’s not going to remember any of this. At least one of us is so lucky. I pull out my newest toy, the one that Quin had specially crafted for me. I press a small button on the lipstick-sized tube and it grows into a thin metallic baton.
I swing it just as Falax is about to give me another fresh cut, and our weapons clash against one another at the top of the stairs. I can hear some of the guests beginning to notice the rowdiness happening nearby, and I try to not think about Kagin possibly being one of them. My baton clangs against Falax's knife as we engage in a wild swordfight. Blasters are more of our thing, but we've both dedicated some time to study a little swordplay.
Falax bombards me with his knife, navigating me down the stairs, my back turned to the rest of the party as we fight. I parry him the best that I can until I feel myself running out of room. My calves press against a short wall, and I nearly tumble backward once I realize that I'm about to fall into the fountain. I duck from another attack, rolling to the side. I swing my baton, catching it on Falax's knee. He grunts in pain as he bends on one leg. I hope I didn't hurt him too badly.
With an opportunity now open, I swing again, knocking the blade from his hand. He stumbles back, clutching his sore and empty hand. I grab him by his collar, pulling him in close. "Fingers crossed this works," I say as I pucker up and kiss him with as much passion as I can muster. I feel like this is something people always do in movies to break curses, and I figure it just might be crazy enough to work. The crowd murmurs in confusion as I pull away from Falax, a glimmer of hope in my eyes that his mind will start to clear up.
But to my horror, it doesn't. Falax still looks confused and angry and lashes his hands around my throat in an attempt to choke me. I can hear some people crying out to break us apart in the commotion. I can't believe I couldn't shake him out of his trance. Then again, I really shouldn't get all of my problem solving from unreliable sources.
Annoyed and steaming with rage, I kick Falax in the shin and grab him by the shoulders. It's almost as if time slows down when I swing him violently towards the shining fountain in the center of the foyer. He plunges into the golden water and stays under for several seconds. Several seconds too long for my liking. I reach into the freezing cold and pull him out by his shirt.
“Hey hot pants,” I say as I shake his limp body. He hangs lazily over the edge of the fountain, his clothes soaked completely through. I pick up his head to make sure he’s okay, and I’m a little horrified to see that he’s not. I wasn’t trying to drown him for crying out loud, and I would never forgive myself if I did. To my relief, though, he starts to cough, sputtering out mouthfuls of water onto the floor. The crowd steps back in a panic, shocked at the sight of us and the scene that we’ve made.
I'm bracing myself, clutching onto my baton and waiting for another fight. But instead, Falax's eyes are crystal clear. A beautiful green instead of a whirlwind of clouds. "Oh hi, wife," he says with a tired grin. "You look great." "Hi husband," I reply, leaning to kiss him on his dripping forehead. I almost want to laugh. I'm just so relieved to finally have him back with me again. The guests silently watch us as I help him step out of the fountain, bracing him against me. Falax takes a look around the room, and I can tell he's just as confused as everyone else is. "Okay, so I got some questions," he says quietly.
"Alani hypnotized you with her psycho powers. Once again I came here to save your ass. We just had a crazy fight, and now we have to get the gems before—"
“Falax!” A deep voice booms through the crowd, and the
two of us freeze in our tracks. The sea of guests part to let Kagin through. “I certainly wasn’t expecting to see you here tonight,” he says. I look at Falax, and can tell he’s still confused, he turns me around for a brief huddle. “Where are we again?” He whispers.
“A party,” I explain.
“Ah, gotcha. Who’s?”
“Alani’s.”
“She invited you?”
“I invited myself. You know, for the ass-saving.” "Great. And Kagin is here…why?"
“Enough chit-chat!” Kagin growls. He’s even more terrifying when he’s not a tiny hologram. “I’m not one to mix business and entertainment, but I gave a warning, you two, and you’re certainly not going to smooth talk your way out of this one.” He raises his arm, and suddenly, we’re surrounded by a cluster of his most intimidating henchmen. “Last question,” Falax says, his eyes darting from one suited guy to the next. “Do I have a blaster?”
“I don’t think you’ll like the answer to that one,” I say.
CHAPTER 10
HEARTS OF REINA
FALAX
Just my luck. I'm barely conscious for five minutes and already I'm thrown into yet another rip-roaring fight. It comes with the occupation, I guess. I remembered sending that transmission to Becca. It looks like that part went well without any trouble. It wasn't until the next time that I woke up, that I realized I was in the middle of a horrible nightmare.
Again, I had found myself in Alani’s sex dungeon. I know she kept me wrapped up for most of the time, promising that she was waiting for the right time to claim me once again. My awakening was very brief, barely enough time for me to try to escape. It was all too familiar, like the last time I had broken out. But this second time I hadn’t been so lucky, and I was trapped in her clutches until Becca could finally reach me.
Forbidden Reunion (Galaxy Smugglers Book 2) Page 5