Hunard’s eyes narrowed, seeming to disappear beneath his prominent brow. “What makes you think we have to do that?”
“What part of ‘kidnapping is illegal’ don’t you understand?” Slowly slipping his hand into his pocket, Onca pressed the panic button again, then tried to open a channel to Val. He might not make it out of the Den to tell the story, but if someone else were to hear this—
Hunard wasn’t quite as stupid as he looked. Taking advantage of Onca’s momentary distraction, he made a grab for him.
This time, he didn’t miss. Within seconds, Onca’s shirt lay shredded on the floor, and searing pain shot through his chest as the Herp’s huge paw scored his skin. Onca knew he had at least one advantage over a Herp. Sure, they had claws, but they also possessed the flat teeth of a herbivore. Zetithians had fangs. Onca hoped he wouldn’t have to use them. The thought of sinking his teeth into any part of a Herp made him sick. Then again, when fighting to literally save one’s ass, some sacrifices must be made.
“So, you can bleed,” Hunard said with a satisfied smirk. “I like that.”
“You would,” Onca retorted. “Never cared for it myself. But then, I’m guessing your blood isn’t as pretty and red as mine—probably a disgusting muddy brown.”
“My blood is as red as yours, cat boy. Not that you’ll be seeing any of it.”
Onca shrugged. “My loss.”
“You won’t be making jokes once I’ve split your butt apart with my dick.”
“Probably not,” Onca agreed. “But in the meantime, I mean to get in as many digs as I can, starting with how fucking ugly you are. I mean, you’re so ugly, you probably have to blindfold your boyfriends before they’ll let you near them.” He glanced downward. The Herp’s dick was not only hard, it was dripping. Obviously drawing blood appealed to him. “Ugly cock too. You ought to keep it in your diaper until you’re ready to use it.”
“I’m ready to use it, all right. You just wait until I ram it in your ass. I’ll really make you bleed.” His lips curled into a diabolical grin. “Then I’ll rip your nuts off so you’ll be more docile—although I do like boys with some fight in them.”
Onca had hoped the diaper jibe would piss the dude off. Obviously, he’d heard that one before—or, more likely, didn’t know what a diaper was. On the other hand, Onca understood the nut-ripping comment perfectly and doubted it was an idle threat. “Guess you ought to let me keep my balls then.” Seeing no further need for secrecy, he pulled the comlink out of his pocket.
“Toss me that comlink, and I’ll be gentle with you.”
“Nah. I think I’ll keep it. Might want to call the police or my friends.”
“You won’t have the chance.”
“No? I think—that is, I’m pretty sure Val has heard every word of our conversation. Isn’t that right, Val?”
Onca waited.
Val never said a thing and neither did anyone else.
He hadn’t really expected a call to go through, but had the panic signal worked? If not, he had a good forty-five minutes before anyone even tried to rescue him.
Clearly, setting the time limit at an hour was a mistake.
***
“My friends are in there,” Kim yelled at the crowd. “They were kidnapped and enslaved. Forced into sex slavery—in horrible places like this.”
The populace was unmoved, although she did get a few versions of “Hey, baby, you’re really hot” from several of the men. Moments later, a group of Terran males began to advance toward her, licking their lips in a highly lascivious manner.
Then she remembered where she was. The brothel district—where the very air they breathed was laced with powerful sex pheromones. She wasn’t sure about the Darconians, but Val and Rashe should have been affected. A glance at the two men proved this supposition to be correct. Dressed in leather, Rashe’s erection wasn’t as obvious, but Val sported a remarkable bulge in the crotch of his stretchy leggings. Roncas was still purple.
Far from recruiting anyone to help, Kim was more likely to be raped in the middle of the street. If their behavior to this point was any indication, the police wouldn’t intervene. Thankfully, Shemlak and his crew were on her side.
There had to be a way to use this to her advantage. Somehow.
The Terrans were closing in. Shemlak started toward her, but Kim put up a hand to warn him off. “Anybody who wants to get into my pants has to catch me first.”
With that, the Terrans and every other male in the horde surged forward. Kim took off toward the brothel, hoping the Cylopean might see her as a potential inmate and actually let them in.
She hit the force field running, bouncing back like a rubber ball. “Fuck!”
On the word, the field dissolved and the door swung open.
“The password is fuck?”
How obvious is that? Scrambling to her feet, she ran through the door, hitting the astonished Cylopean with a stun beam as she passed by.
The door and the force field closed behind her. Hoping the others had heard her expletive, she kept on going down the dark hallway.
And ran straight into a Herpatronian.
Her pistol was only set on stun, but with the business end of it rammed into the Herp’s belly, the pulse knocked him back at least two meters.
Continuing on, she came to a large room lined with cages filled with girls. Momentarily horror-struck, she couldn’t even form a word until she heard her name called. Cassie and Peska were both screaming at her, rattling their cages.
“Thank the gods!” Kim shouted. “Have you seen a Zetithian guy in here?”
Cassie pointed at an arched doorway. “Down that hall, third door on the left.”
She hadn’t seen Dalmet. Was she in that room with Onca? Surely he wouldn’t have hit the panic button if she’d been with him. He’d have taken advantage of the time to gather information from her first.
Unless he really was fucking her and had hit the panic button by mistake.
Without stopping to consider this possibility or how Cassie had known where he was, she sped down the hall, coming to a halt at the designated door, which was, of course, locked.
Electronically. With no handle or knob to jiggle or force open.
And no control panel beside it, either.
She needed Draddut, and she needed him now.
***
Onca was quick on his feet, but he’d underestimated the determination of a horny, homosexual Herp.
Following five minutes of circling the room exchanging insults, the Herp caught him by the belt.
“I see you finally learned how to feint,” Onca gasped as with one hand, Hunard sliced through his belt and shredded his trousers.
Taking advantage of the Herp’s tenuous grip, Onca spun away, yelping as Hunard’s claws laid open his flank.
Snarling, Hunard threw Onca’s pants against the wall. The comlink cracked and fell to the floor in pieces.
“Dammit, that link was guaranteed not to break. I want my money back.”
“Very funny,” Hunard sneered.
Now completely naked, Onca bared his fangs and fisted his hands. “Come a little closer, big guy, and you’ll see how funny I can be.”
“Don’t worry. I will. You know, you really are a pretty fellow,” Hunard drawled. “Love the curly hair.”
Onca rolled his eyes. “Wish I could say the same for you, Ape Dick.”
Never having faced down a rapist, Onca suspected that Hunard’s every thought and sense must’ve been focused on nailing his ass. He wasn’t even rising to the taunts anymore, and nothing seemed to faze that boner.
Discounting the possibility of divine intervention, Onca had two options left. He could take the offensive or ease off and lure the Herp into a trap. What would happen after that was anyone’s guess. Thus far, he’d only seen two Herps and a Cylopean. There were bound to be others, particularly in light of that you and what army remark. He might eliminate this one only to have six more take his place.
> Then again, Hunard could’ve been bluffing. With the girls in cages, keeping them in line required very little manpower, and their care and feeding was probably automated. Obviously no one cared what the customers did to the girls. The two Herps could handle any fights that might arise between the men.
The men… Hunard might not be the only one who liked to fuck other males. “Got another room where you keep the slave boys?”
“Not yet, but we’re working on it. You may have the honor of being the first.”
“Guess you’d better not kill me then, huh?”
The Herp barked out a nasty laugh. “I might keep you for my own personal use.”
Onca had been debating whether to kill Hunard or not. What he and the others had done to the girls was certainly enough to warrant it, but it was bad karma to kill—aside from the fact that he would prefer not to bring the law down on himself any more than necessary. This revelation, however, made him feel a bit murderous. Still, it wouldn’t do to appear to be too accommodating…
He glanced at the remnants of his clothing piled up against the opposite wall. The belt might be useful as a weapon and so might the sharp edges of a broken comlink. Taking a deep breath, he made a run for them.
Hunard grabbed him by the hair as he flew past. Yanking him off his feet, he snaked his sinewy arm around Onca’s waist, pinning his arms to his sides. His breath was hot on Onca’s neck, and the stench would’ve disgusted a Drell.
“But that’s only if I don’t fuck you to death right now.”
Chapter 19
Kim hammered at the door with her fists. It was so solid she doubted anyone on the other side could even hear her.
Was there a password for this door as well? She tried every word she could think of starting with “fuck” and ending with “done.” Nothing worked. There had to be a way to open it in case of emergency—unless it was all controlled from a central location. She’d taken out the Herp and the Cylopean. She hadn’t seen anyone else. What if those were the only two working here?
Impossible. All those girls? No way.
She ran back down the corridor to where the stunned Herp lay sprawled in the floor. Keys were rather old-fashioned, thumbprints and palm locks being the more common means of security. And that door didn’t appear to have a visible lock…
The Herp didn’t have anything on him but a pulse pistol, which she confiscated, and a small medallion on a chain around his neck.
Surely it wouldn’t be that easy. It couldn’t be.
Then again, these were fuckin’ Herps. How smart could they be?
Yanking the chain from the Herp’s neck, she leaped to her feet. A moment later, she heard voices. Familiar ones.
“Thank the gods!”
Rashe came charging down the hallway, brandishing his tomahawk. “Wish we’d known the password was ‘fuck’ to begin with. Would’ve saved us a lot of trouble. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, but he’s not.” Kim held up the medallion. “I think this may be the key. It was all he had on him.”
“Don’t suppose you checked inside his undies, did you?”
Kim shuddered. “I’ll leave that to you. I’m going to test my theory.” She took off running. The girls were screaming as she passed by the room where they were caged. Skidding to a halt, she ran over to Cassie and held up the medallion. “Is this the key?”
Cassie nodded. “That’s what they use to open everything. Not sure how it works, though. They always press them and sort of mumble something. I’ve never been able to catch what it is they say.”
“Another freakin’ password.” This time, Kim was certain it wouldn’t be as easy as saying the F word. The security on the main door was one thing—regular customers probably knew what to say and passed through without question—but letting girls in and out of their cages was another. Stepping back from Cassie’s cage, she shouted to the room at large. “Do any of you know the passwords?”
Several of the girls volunteered suggestions, but none worked when Kim tried them, despite pressing the stone center of the medallion until her fingers ached.
Rashe appeared at her side. “We broke into the control room and took out another Cylopean, two Racks, and a Terran. Val’s hacking into the system now. Turns out that Herp you stunned wasn’t the only one they’ve got.”
“Herp?” Cassie exclaimed. “Holy shit! That guy, Onca, is trapped in a room with him.”
“Why the hell didn’t you say so before?” Kim shot back. “Here we are, wasting time when Onca’s probably getting the shit kicked out of him.”
Rashe chuckled. “Dunno about that. Zetithians can be pretty tough when you corner them.” Grinning, he tapped his teeth. “Fangs. Remember?”
Kim found this only mildly reassuring. Using his fangs would require Onca to actually bite that Herp—the mere thought of which made her gag.
“Oh, and by the way, thanks for taking out that Cylopean on your way in. Made it a lot easier—that and the fact that Roncas has a real nasty mouth on her these days. You should’ve heard her screeching at the Cylopean dude in the control room.” He paused, shuddering. “Scary little woman.”
“You broke into the control room? How?”
He shrugged. “The door was open.”
“Are you sure the doors to the, um, other rooms aren’t controlled from there?”
“They probably are—in some way or other—but we haven’t figured it out yet. Val’s good, but the control panels are labeled in Cylopean. He can’t read them.”
“I take it the Cylopean in the control room wasn’t being very cooperative?”
“Stunned, actually.” Rashe grimaced. “We should be able to squeeze some information out of him when he comes around.”
“And in the meantime, Onca is stuck in a room with a Herp—and we have no idea how to get him out.”
“A homosexual Herp,” Cassie put in. “A real mean one too.”
“Okay, that’s it,” Kim growled. “Where’s Draddut?”
“He and Shemlak are holding off the cops and everyone else at the main entrance,” Rashe replied. “Not sure we want them to leave their posts.”
Kim scowled. “Maybe we need more than a password and the medallions. Maybe we need the Herp, too—or at least his fingerprints.” She glanced at Rashe. “Think you could drag him in here?”
“No problem. Be easier to just bring his hand, though.”
Kim arched a brow. “Bloodthirsty, aren’t you?”
“A bit,” Rashe admitted. “Seeing all these girls in cages kinda brings out the savage in me. Val didn’t even want to come in here. Said it would mess with his concentration too much.” His gaze swept the perimeter where the girls now sat quietly in their cages. “It’s kinda fucking me up too.”
Kim felt the same way, but she couldn’t allow her empathy to impair her determination to find Onca. Right now, the girls were safe. He was the one in danger. “Grab that Herp and let’s get going.”
Rashe stroked the edge of his tomahawk with a loving caress. “Sure you don’t just want his hand?”
“No. I want the whole Herp. If he wakes up, you can threaten to chop off his balls to get him to cooperate.”
Rashe nodded. “That’d do it.”
Racing back to the fallen Herp, Rashe grabbed a foot while Kim took the other.
“Damn, this dude’s heavy,” Rashe complained.
“We are not chopping off his hand.” Then again, if that other Herp had actually raped Onca, she might be tempted to use Rashe’s tomahawk to do a bit of castrating herself.
They finally made it to the third door on the left. Assuming that the thumb and forefinger were the required digits, Kim pressed the unconscious Herp’s fingers to the center stone of the medallion. Before she’d had the chance to try any passwords, the door slid open.
The first thing she saw was blood.
Everywhere.
***
Onca didn’t have to open his eyes to know Kim was there with him. Her sweet fragrance
overpowered the stink of Herpatronian sweat and the metallic tang of his own blood. Her touch on his face flooded him with warmth.
She loved him. Her emotions flavored her scent, and he breathed it in, reveling in the joy of it. That love was wrong, and he knew it—but just this once, he let himself bask in the glow of her affection and her caring touch. The hint of sadness in her scent forced his lids to rise and his eyes to focus on her beautiful face—to behold the sorrow and relief in her gaze, the gentle curve of her cheek, and the fullness of her softly parted lips.
“Oh, Onca…” she whispered as she knelt beside him. “I’m so sorry. This was all my fault. I should never have let anything happen to you.”
He gave her a weak smile. “Jack will be so pissed.”
“No, she won’t. You’re alive and appear to be all in one piece.”
“Almost wasn’t,” he admitted. “Damned Herp was determined to fuck me to death.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “He didn’t—”
An attempt to shake his head failed. “Wasn’t for lack of trying. Never saw such a horny bastard in my life.”
She paused. “You’re both…naked.”
“Yeah, well, Herps prefer their men undressed. Didn’t you know?” He nodded at the pile of useless clothing. “Looks like I’ll have to walk out of here that way too.” He blinked as his vision clouded again. “That is, if I can walk out of here. Not sure about that.”
“But how—?”
His chuckle was undoubtedly as pathetic as his smile had been. “Sonofabitch couldn’t handle the snard.”
“You—you didn’t.” A groan from the Herpatronian heap by the bed drew her attention. “I can’t believe snard had anything to do with his condition. You couldn’t respond to his scent.” She wrinkled her nose. “Could you?”
“No, but he sure seemed to like mine. His dick was like a steel pipe. Had the devil of a time putting a bend in it.”
“You bent his dick?”
“Twisted his balls too. I thought about ripping his throat out, but this seemed more appropriate. Don’t think any of his junk will ever work the way it’s supposed to again.” Wincing, he raised a hand to his ear. “My hearing may never be the same, either. Never heard anyone scream like that.” He ran a knuckle over his jawbone and winced again. “A Herp can pack quite a punch when he’s trying to get you to let go of the goods.” Reaching up, he touched her cheek. Still lovely. Still the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. “Good thing he passed out before I did.”
Rebel (The Cat Star Chronicles) Page 18