by C. R. Jane
His gentle hand trailed down my skin almost sensually even though this wasn’t the place for any of that to happen.
Thane walked into the room, rage still written across his face. "How is she doing?" he asked, his hands trembling with adrenaline.
"I applied the antidote. She should be completely back to normal in a few more minutes," Corran explained. "Did you take care of him?"
Thane nodded, his cheek twitching as he tried to control himself. "Evidently we're going to have to remind everyone just who we are. I guess we’ve been gone a little too long."
Corran nodded. “If we're going to keep her safe, we’ll have to do that fast."
Once again I felt conflicting emotions. They were so protective of me. Yet they didn't respect anything in regards to my free agency. I didn't know how those two things worked together.
After a couple more minutes I did indeed feel back to normal, better than normal in fact. Corran helped me off the table and led me over to a cylinder clothes changer that was also in this room. I was immediately changed into a new dress, this one a crimson color. The cylinder even somehow took care of my dirty hair and skin, leaving my hair looking more shiny than it did after I went to a hair appointment. I was kind of bummed that they didn't introduce me to this technology earlier. It would've saved me a lot of time.
"How come you didn't use this at your house on earth?" I asked, thinking that if I had this at my disposal I would have never chosen to go without it.
Thane smirked. “There’s something to be said for the shower," he stated, giving me a wink. It took me a second, and then I was blushing furiously.
Thane’s communicator device must have sent him an alert, because his hand went to his ear. After listening for a moment, he looked at me regretfully. "I'm sorry, but we need to get the cuffs back on you and get you to the prison. You already drew enough attention just walking through the line. It will get even worse if they sense that we’re giving you special treatment.”
“You mean like killing someone who hurt me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Thane growled. “That’s expected in our society. That Vepar disrespected us by harming something that belonged to us. It would have looked stranger if I hadn’t done anything.”
I filed that away for later. The Vepar were obviously a very aggressive society, but I had already known that, hadn’t I?
Sighing, I obediently put my arms behind my back. I grimaced as the cold metal once again clicked around my wrists.
Thane and Corran walked me out of the lab and down another long hallway. I looked around with interest. Like the space cruiser, the Vepar seemed to like simplicity. The walls were a stark gray gunmetal color. There were no pictures or ornamentation decorating any of them. I guess when you lived on a planet as beautiful as Veon, you didn't need elaborate decorations.
We turned right, arriving at what I assumed was my new home for the time being. We were in a large, long room, with doorways on either side.
As we began to walk, I realized that Thane hadn’t been lying when he said that the prisoners who were about to be my neighbors were dangerous. The prisoners were all beautiful, yes, but they were all distorted in a way that sent fear spiraling down my spine. Some of the prisoners we walked by had fangs that they flashed at me when I looked at them. There was another prisoner that had shiny black scales that flickered across his skin before disappearing. Another cell held a dark figure in the center of the room with black mist swirling all around it.
I gasped. It was all I could do to suppress the urge to try and run away.
"You didn't tell me that there were Khonsu imprisoned here," I said coldly to Thane and Corran, my voice quivering with fear.
"We told you that our most dangerous prisoners were kept here. Khonsu would be included in that of course,” Corran said mildly.
I trembled, thinking about having to be near them. What if that thing escaped and came after me? I didn’t think I could take that kind of torture again.
I felt the tip of Thane’s finger brush against my arm soothingly. When I looked up at him, his face looked as blank as ever, and he continued to stare straight ahead as we walked. My heart couldn't help but warm at the thought that he was attempting to offer comfort despite the fact that he needed to keep up appearances that I was his prisoner.
Just as soon as I had that thought, I shut it down. They were the reason I was here to begin with. They were the reason the Khonsu came after me. They were the reason for everything bad that had happened in my life.
We stopped in front of an empty cell that was right across from a Vepar that looked to be missing half of his appendages. There was another unidentifiable creature in the cell next to the empty one that looked to be gnawing on some kind of bird carcass. He leered at me manically, and I jumped back as his smile revealed rows and rows of sharp teeth that resembled the mouth of a shark.
Corran waved a small device over the glass of the empty cell and it disappeared. They then led me inside. The room was practically bare. There was a small cot against the back wall that held a threadbare blanket, no pillow. Corran showed me how to press a button on the wall to get the toilet and a small sink to appear. Other than that there was nothing in the room. Nothing to pass the time with either.
Suddenly, I couldn't stand the thought of being trapped in this room.
"Please don't leave me here," I begged. Coren looked at Thane anxiously. Thane reached out and brushed my hair softly.
“It should only be for a few hours," he said. "We’ll be back for you soon."
Looking around to see if anyone was watching us, which all of the prisoners on the opposite wall were, Corran stood closely next to me and pulled out what looked like a small tablet.
"This will have things on it to keep you busy. I downloaded some Earth movies and books for you to use on the ship. But obviously you never used it. I'll turn off the cameras on half of your room. As long as you’re laying on your cot when you look at it, the cameras won’t pick up that you have the device.
I nodded gratefully, even as tears continued to humiliatingly stream down my face at the thought of being left alone surrounded by all of these dangerous creatures.
Thane’s communication device must have popped on because he started to talk to someone. "We’re just loading her into the cell right now," he instructed. “We'll be there in a minute to talk to the Council.” He rolled his eyes before tapping his ear again, assumedly to shut off the device. "We have to go," Thane said.
I couldn’t seem to control my body as it continued to shake. Corran unhooked the handcuffs, and I gratefully shook my wrists out. At least I hadn’t managed to engage the spikes. That would have been the cherry on top of a craptastic day.
Thane and Corran stared at me. “I really want to kiss you,” Thane murmured in a growly, worried voice.
I wanted that too. But I wasn’t going to tell them that. “I’ll be fine,” I said, wiping away my tears.
Corran took my hand. “It won’t be long. I promise.” I nodded, not really believing that would be the case. Something told me the Council wasn’t going to love the idea of me wandering around Veon.
They finally turned to go. Stepping out of the cell, Corran once again waved a device in front of where the glass was supposed to be and it instantly reappeared.
I wanted to run and beat on the glass wall, but I knew that it wouldn’t make a difference. I collapsed face down on the cot, listening to the screams and moans of the prisoners around me.
How did I get here?
Chapter 6
Time inched along. After laying there feeling sorry for myself for what seemed like hours, I finally picked up the tablet that Corran had given me and started to search through it. “Some” was not an accurate description for the amount of movies and books Corran had uploaded. There were literally millions of movies and books on here. I could read and watch movies every day for the rest of my life and still not even come close to making a dent in the content. It mu
st be nice to be practically immortal like the Vepar, they could actually take advantage of everything that life offered.
Tired of the pity party I was throwing myself, I finally settled on Sweet Home Alabama, a movie guaranteed to make me feel better. There was nothing like a little Patrick Dempsey to soothe the soul.
It was impossible to get comfortable on the cot so I ended up just sitting on it and leaning against the wall. It seemed a bit inhumane that they didn’t provide pillows for the prisoners. I’m sure most of the prisoners here were lifers.
Of course I glanced over to my cellmate across the aisle who was currently flicking pieces of what looked like ash off his burned body...maybe the least of my concerns were pillows.
I clicked start on the movie, but there was something offsetting about trying to watch a romantic comedy with all of the terrifying noises that surrounded me. The cells were definitely not soundproof. I jumped when a scream that sounded more dinosaur-like than intelligent creature sounded from my next door neighbor.
Please hurry back to me, I thought to myself, wondering how the guys were faring in front of the Council.
My stomach gurgled just then. I wondered what they fed the prisoners. Hopefully it was something humans could eat. Thane and Corran probably should have mentioned something about that.
I tried to concentrate on the movie but my mind was just too full. Full of them, full of what had happened, full of my fear for the future.
I had to get out of here. I had to get off this planet. And I had to get away from them.
There had to be a place where they couldn’t find me.
I thought about my recent bloodlust and felt a momentary flash of panic. That was a problem I would have to deal with before I escaped. Hopefully Corran would give me some sort of solution sooner rather than later. I didn’t want to return to Earth as some kind of vampire.
Maybe I could somehow take some of their blood with me to hold me over?
As soon as I had that thought I felt sick. Just a little bit ago I was a normal girl, poor...but normal. Now I was thinking about blood.
They really had ruined me.
I was lost in my musings so I didn’t hear the footsteps walking down the hall until there was someone staring at me through my cell glass.
I almost peed myself when I heard the throaty peal of laughter come out of her.
It was my first sighting of what had to be a Vepar female. And just by looking at her, I knew she would bring me nothing but trouble.
She was stunning, so gorgeous that I didn’t think I had ever seen another female so beautiful before. Deep, auburn hair tumbled to her waist. A perfect, petite nose, doe-like emerald eyes, and bow-shaped lips made up her face. Her skin was a perfect creamy color that looked like it had been airbrushed. Her waist tapped in, and her boobs were big. Essentially she was everything I was not. Not even the two small ivory horns sticking out of her head could detract from her beauty. Not when they had silver threads curled around them in a decorative manner.
She stared at me, a small smirk stretching on her face.
It broke me to admit. But this was the kind of girl that fit with the guys. I couldn’t believe that Thane, Derrial, and Corran could actually deign to sleep with humans when they had females walking around who looked like that. They must really want to procreate.
I remembered some of the details of the plan I had seen in the guys’ basement lab. From what I'd seen, I would just be an incubator for an embryo made up of all Vepar DNA.
Something burned inside of me at the thought of Thane, Derrial, and Corran’s DNA being combined with this beautiful creature. I felt dark just thinking about it.
I wasn’t sure what to say to her. From what I had been told, Vepar women held an even greater distaste for humans than their male counterparts did. And a male counterpart had already tried to kill me.
What was this one going to try and do to me?
“Hello little human,” she said in a voice that literally sounded like music to my ears. I had never heard a voice so melodic before.
I remained silent, watching her carefully.
“I just had to see what all the fuss was about. What would make my mates leave Veon. I can’t say that I’m impressed.”
I tried to understand what she was saying. Mates? Please don’t be talking about the guys…
“I’m sure you know all about me. But I must say, I know very little about you,” she said, her gaze shrewd and cold.
I wasn’t sure what the right move was here. I had a million questions, but I was deeply afraid of the danger that was emanating from this Vepar. There was a cruel glint in her eyes that terrified me. All I could pray was that she wasn’t able to open this cell. I didn’t think I would survive, and I knew that the Vepar women were close to as strong as the males. And we all know how well I’d fared against them...
“I’m sorry, I’m afraid that there’s been a mistake. Who are you?” I finally asked, feeling like I was antagonizing her more by not saying anything.
Obviously I should have stayed silent. The smirk she had been sporting transformed into a look of unadulterated rage.
“Don’t lie,” she seethed. My eyes widened as she hit the glass crazily.
I guess the old adage that the craziest things came in the prettiest packages was correct.
I tried to sink into the wall behind me, my eyes flickering into the hallway behind her, hoping that someone would appear soon to help me.
“I’m going to make sure that your time here is an absolute nightmare. No one touches what’s mine,” she spat the threat, finally stalking away.
I couldn’t relax until the sound of her footsteps disappeared.
What did she mean about someone touching what was hers? And the whole mates thing? As much as I wanted to tell myself it wasn’t about my three Vepar, who else could she be talking about? And my stomach dropped through me… what else hadn’t the men told me?
I shouldn’t care though. If she had been talking about Thane, Derrial, and Corran, than that was a good thing that they had someone like her to take their interest away. Right…?
It didn’t bode well though as far as the fertility experiments went. If they didn’t care about me than there didn’t seem to be anything that would stop them from using me in them.
It was all such a clusterfuck.
I turned on the movie again, desperate to quiet my mind and calm my shaking.
Thirty minutes passed and more footsteps headed down the hall. I climbed to my feet and moved to the front of my cell, not wanting to be surprised again. There was a Vepar male in a grey outfit similar to the one that Corran had changed into, pushing a cart down the hallway. He stopped in front of every cell and somehow passed a bowl full of something that was steaming to the prisoner waiting behind the glass.
I was in awe of the Vepar technology. My stomach was growling.
The Vepar handed food to the prisoner in the cell to my right and rolled his cart towards me. I waited anxiously by the glass, afraid that I was going to drop the bowl during the handoff.
Apparently I didn’t need to worry, because he didn’t even look at me as he passed right by my cell before stopping in front of the prisoner to my left.
I stared at him, not understanding what had just happened. Maybe I couldn’t eat the food as a human? So, I banged on the glass, trying to get his attention. But it was like he didn’t hear me.
Several prisoners laughed at me around me, and I realized that it wasn’t that he hadn’t heard me, it was that he was ignoring me.
Just another way to torture the unwelcome human apparently.
Chapter 7
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed. I watched at least four movies and the meal cart has passed by three times, so it’s at least been a whole day. I guessed the Vepar running the meal cart decided he better not kill me and on his last pass through he reluctantly pushed a small pitcher of water through the glass. I gratefully accepted it and gulped down the whole thi
ng immediately. I was glad not to have to resort to the sink water since I wasn’t sure if it was normal water or not. I had seen Derrial, Thane, and Corran drink water before, but there was so much I didn’t know about the Vepar that I didn’t want to run the risk.
My thirst quenched, I settled back onto the cot, picking up the tablet to figure out another movie to watch. Just then the lights in the hallway outside the cells dimmed. I looked around, wondering what was going on. I gave a small scream when a blurred figure suddenly appeared in my cell. Was it a Khonsu?
I shrunk against my wall, convinced this was the end. Suddenly, Derrial’s face briefly appeared. He held up a finger to signal for me to be quiet. His face disappeared after a moment, returning to the near invisible blurred form.
What was going on? That Khonsu had impersonated Derrial the first time I had met him. Was this something like that? Could the Khonsu infiltrate the prison? When Derrial’s face appeared again, looking frustrated, I decided to just go for it. Maybe he was breaking me out?
I held out my hand and the blurred form seemed to absorb it. I all of a sudden felt like I was weightless. I tried to look at my body and it was like I had disappeared. Something flickered out of the corner of my eye and I looked in amazement at an image that looked like me, that was lounging on the cot I had just abandoned. The fake me laid down on the pillowless cot and pulled the blanket up to her neck.
I felt arms wrap around my waist just then and all of a sudden I was moving, carried along by the blurred figure that I hoped was Derrial. I watched in amazement as we floated through the cell glass, down the hallway, and out of the room holding the cells.
We continued to move down more and more hallways until we left the building all together through what I assumed was the back entrance. I gaped in amazement as we passed through another large field of gorgeous flowers, this time all of them purple in color. They seemed to sparkle in the sunlight and I was only able to take my eyes away from them when we entered a forest. A forest that looked far different from the forests I was used to on Earth.