by Pixie Moon
My purple jailer stops at the door and looks me over. “There is no mistake, human. You have been captured and are going to Dagrin to be sold. I’ll be back in a while with some food for all of you.”
In horror, I watch the being leave and shut the door. As I process the being’s words a new wave of pain sears my chest. “I’m a captive to be sold. Where is Dagrin? Is that a town on Earth?”
My legs start trembling so badly that I’m forced to sit down. Who could stay bent over like that forever anyway? The black floor beneath me is cool and smooth. I flatten my hands out on the strange surface. What is this made of?
Feeling eyes on me, I look around. The blue parrot in the next cage is eyeballing me. When the feeling of being watched doesn’t go away, I look around some more.
My jaw drops when I see another being three cages down. The being is sitting up and staring at me. The thing looks grumpy. The bars of my cage come into sharp focus. I don’t have to be brilliant to be able to figure out why it looks grumpy. I wonder what I look like to it. I snap my mouth shut so I don’t look so dumb. I’m feeling quite ignorant right now.
It openly stares at me so I do the same to it. The being is interesting. It has tan skin like me. Its hair is long and purple. “Do you dye your hair?” I ask it. I don’t know what made me ask that question. I must be going mad.
Grass green eyes stare at me with only a hint of interest. It’s quite unnerving.
“What are you? I’m a human.”
The being shakes its head and then lies down on its pallet. The sight of the pallet has me looking around my own cage. Sure enough, in one corner of my cage is a black pallet. The other corner has a box with a lid.
“What’s the box for?” I ask the other being. Again I don’t get an answer. It must not understand English. That’s a shame.
Curiosity has me crawling over to the box. I open the lid and see a hole. The inside seems to be lined with some type of plastic. Heat floods my cheeks as I realize this must be a port-a-potty. I close the lid and crawl over to the pallet. The material is soft. No wonder the other being is staying on its pallet.
The birds in the cage next to mine start making all kinds of noises. I smile as I wonder what they are talking about. The green one is making louder sounds than the blue one. Both of the parrots are beautiful with their multi-tone feathers.
“If you guys figure out how to escape, let me know. I’ll gladly go with you.” My words hang in the air as the door opens.
“Escape is impossible,” my captor says as it walks into the room carrying a box.
That nice smell is back. As I inhale it, I realize that it’s coming from my captor. I didn’t know bad guys could smell nice. That’s because you haven’t been around many, the realistic voice inside me says in a matter of fact tone. The voice is telling the truth. That realization makes me shudder as I fully understand how far out of my element I am. I’m not used to bad guys.
This can’t be real. Aliens don’t take humans from the woods. That’s just a story we tell the young ones so they don’t get lost and die in the woods. I touch a shaky hand to my forehead and take a calming breath.
When I look up, the alien is still standing outside my cage. “This can’t be real.”
“It is, human,” the being answers softly and then picks something out of the box and slides it through a slot in the lower corner of my cage.
I watch it do the same thing to the occupied cages close to mine. As a new scent enters my nose, I realize that the strange stuff on the tray is food. Or is it? Am I really still on earth and in the middle of a poison induced dream?
The green and blue parrots in the cage next to mine fly down to the seed placed in their cage and start eating. The sulky being in the end cage has retrieved his food and is eating it. I look at the alien standing outside of my cage. It’s watching me closely.
“This has to be a dream. Poison induced, I’m sure.” I’m never going near any plants in the woods that look like onions again.
The alien with the diamond shape in the center of its eyes shakes its head. The birds squawk in between eating their seeds. If this is a dream, I can stick my finger through the cage’s wire and the birds won’t notice.
Needing to confirm my poison induced dream theory, I scoot close to the birds and stick my finger through the cage. When one backs up a step, I’m able to touch its tail feathers. I stroke the smooth green feathers. The motion calms me.
I smile as I realize I am in a crazy dream. “Wild birds don’t let you tou—Ouch!” The parrot I was petting just whirled around and has my finger in its beak. Pain flares through my hand. I try to twist my finger free but the parrot only clamps down with more force.
“Dang it.” The green monster’s beak is strong. At the sight of blood, I start to worry about my fingertip getting bitten off.
I jump when the alien appears in the parrots’ cage. The being quickly grabs the bird and touches the back of its neck. A moment later my finger is free. I pull my hand back and cradle it to my chest.
As white hot pain flashes through my finger, I realize that this is not a dream. Needing one last confirmation, I look at my finger. The parrot’s beak is imprinted into my skin and the pad of my finger has a little blood on it.
Anger starts to build in my chest. I glare at the being that is exiting the parrots’ cage. “You can’t just take people. It’s not right. Were you raised by wolves…alien wolves?”
The being stands right outside my cage and looks at me with more than a hint of pity in its strange pearl and blue eyes. “There is no right or wrong—only survival.”
What! “You can’t believe that. How would you feel if you were the one in this cage?” My chest starts to heave as my agitation morphs.
“Calm yourself, human. Today you are prey, tomorrow you may be a predator,” the being says in a logical sounding tone.
Who says stuff like that? And in such a calm way. “What are you?”
“Dagrinian. We are headed to Dagrin where you and the others will be sold. If another dagrinian or a zaphinian is interested in you, you need to follow their orders quickly so they will buy you. Either of our species will treat you well. You’ll have a better life on Dagrin or Zaphin than you ever would have had on Earth.” The dagrinian gestures toward my food. “Eat.”
I can’t eat. My stomach is too busy crawling up my throat to hold food. Dagrin is not on Earth. That means I’m in a spacecraft. Curiosity blooms within my mind.
“How are you able to speak English? Are you male or female? What is the being in the end cage? Is it male or female? What is a zaphinian?” Heat flares in my cheeks. I should be mean to the dagrinian, not asking it a hundred questions. Can a prisoner ask questions?
“I’ve studied many languages. It’s necessary in my line of work. I am male and so is the reslikian we bought on Tin Malein. Zaphinians are dominant beings that are extremely sensual. They are good to the beings they buy.” My captor answers all of my questions in a calm tone. Like we are discussing the weather.
His words sink in. “Good how?” I barely squeak out. This can’t be happening to me.
The dagrinian sighs and rocks back on his heels. “When zaphinians bring a submissive being home or to one of their clubs the submissive’s job is to take care of all the zaphinian’s needs. All they require is that the submissive be sensual and open to sex. The submissives they take home are also required to keep the house clean. Which is easy to do since they have the latest technology in their homes.”
My stomach drops back down and then starts to churn. “They are looking for sex-servants?” This can’t be happening.
“Yes, they are good people who cherish their submissives. It is an honor to be chosen by one of them.” The dagrinian’s tone is matter of fact.
Needing to know more, I ask, “What about dagrinians?”
“It is also an honor to be chosen by one of my people. We treat our sexual partners well.”
Is every alien looking for sex? I s
hudder at the thought and decide to change the subject. “How did you get me on your spacecraft?”
“After our heat seeker picked you out, we scanned you and found you to be just right for our needs. Once you passed our inspection, we beamed you onboard.” He pauses and looks me over. “Stay as calm as you were when you arrived and I know you’ll go to a good home.” The male gestures to my food again. “Eat.”
I watch him leave and then look at the food. It doesn’t smell bad but it looks so different from what I’m used to. The parrots have finished eating and are staring at me. I look over and see that the male in the end cage has finished his food and is back on his pallet.
I crawl over to my food and pick up the tray. Food is too precious to let go to waste. I have to at least eat some of it. I know it’s not poisoned because the others didn’t die after eating.
Cautiously, I pick up a green noodle looking thing and am surprised when it isn’t limp. I take a bite. The flavor is a mixture of nutty and spicy. Not bad. I eat some more of the strange green things and then try a red colored berry. Sweetness bursts in my mouth.
In no time at all, I’ve eaten every bit of the food I was given. I put the tray back close to corner of the cage where it came from and then go to my pallet and lie down.
My mind starts to spin as I mull over my situation.
Sharp pain pierces my heart at the thought of never seeing Sunny, Molly, Able, or Alberta again. All of the regulars at the bakery are also going to be missed. My life will never be the same again.
When Sunny has another baby, I’ll never get to hold the little one. I’ll never see my niece grow up or my sister and her husband grow old. I’ll never go to another family gathering again.
Tears slide down my cheeks and a huge hot knot forms in my throat. Sorrow smothers me. Cold radiates from within. Without the love of my family and friends, I don’t have a reason to live.
What is life without love of family? It’s nothing more than a sad existence. A sob escapes me and then another. I hear a shifting sound and glance through the cages.
My heart flitters when I see that the purple haired male has his hands over his ears. Another sob escapes even though I don’t want it to. My sadness is making the male’s stay here even worse. That thought has my spirits spiraling downward to an even lower plane. I can’t stop the bleeding of my soul. Misery envelopes me in its cold embrace.
I feel a dark cloud sink down over me. My spirit welcomes the blackness. From now on I will only exist. Any hope of a fulfilling life is gone.
The parrots begin squawking at one another. For a brief moment, I wonder if I can be like them and carry on as normal in my new life. Hope tries to flare within my chest.
Without love and passion, life is worthless, the black cloud of depression whispers through my heart.
A part of me eagerly sinks deeper into nothingness, but another part of me desperately wants to get rid of the soul sucking cloud surrounding me.
With a slight struggle and then a heavy heart, I sink into the horrendous cloud of hopelessness.
Love is the only thing that can heal me. Unfortunately, it is the one thing I don’t have anymore.
CHAPTER
3
~ Din Ryk WavTe ~
♥
Zaphin
I step away from the technology store with a smile on my face. My fangs have to be gleaming in the sunrays.
Din Von TocGar and Din Tairin GyRol are on either side of me. With the purchase of the chip complete, our mission at this point is to make it back to our spacecraft and head home.
Sounds easier than it may be. This is the point where radical groups, thieves, and other predators can try to take what’s ours.
As we pass by a shop a female raises up a bunch of flowers for sale. She doesn’t look dangerous, but you never know.
Von smiles at her and calls out, “How much for you, sexy thing?”
The female grins wickedly and raises her skirt. One seriously dangerous knife is strapped to her thigh. With her finger, she motions Von over.
I barely keep a grin from curling my lips as Von shakes his head.
The female calls out, “Weakling.”
“Smart is more like it,” Von says as he touches his own weapon.
I shudder at the thought of being dominated. We zaphinians prefer to dominate our lovers—not be dominated, ever.
As we pass the next shop, two men rush out from behind some colorful lengths of material. They are armed and heading toward us.
Tairin dodges a blow and then stabs one of the males in the chest. Von whirls around looking for more threats as I use my energy-sword to fight off the other male.
The sounds of metal singing and clanging are music to my ears.
Nothing is better than a good battle. Energy surges through my sword as I swing it at my opponent. The pretty boy dodges the blow much to my frustration.
The sound of Tairin clicking his tongue has me looking to the side. A new male has arrived and is quickly flinging some prelling throwing stars, but Tairin is just as rapidly dodging them. The way the metal of the stars goes back to its owner amazes me. It does every time I see a warrior use them. Din Von, can do the same thing with throwing knives. Very impressive.
Tairin pushes over a table that sends beads bouncing all over the ground causing the star throwing male to slip and fall down.
When the male after me swings his sword, I block and a new surge of energy pulses through my blade. I shove the guy back with all my strength. He flies back and knocks some food off a stand. The owner of the stand immediately goes after my old opponent.
As we fight off a few more men, we move in the direction of our craft.
A few steps down the path I see the glint of metal. I barely block the axe that’s swinging my way. Adrenaline rushes through me as I continue to fight. The sounds of Von and Tairin in battle fuel me on. We have to make it to our spacecraft.
Knowing we have to win, I execute an upper thrust with my sword. The move sends the man’s axe sailing through the air. The male runs to get his weapon before a thief steals it. I laugh and am about to smart off when a wicked cord whips out and hits my side.
As a sting shoots through my side, I turn to face a new enemy. The warrior whips his cord around showing me that he has unnatural control over the length of thickly bound fibers. I quickly glance around. I grin as I spot a piece of fruit on the next vender’s table. As I move past it, I snatch a piece of food and throw it at the cord packing male.
The warrior laughs as he whips the cord around in a manner that cuts the piece of fruit in half. The vender shouts and charges the male with the cord.
I notice that none of us are currently being attacked. We take this opportunity to run down the path and through the crowd of buyers.
A cord circling my sword arm has me cursing. In a matter of seconds my crew is surrounded by five warriors.
Von and Tairin are busy fighting off attackers as I work on freeing myself from Cord Man. I pull back and the cord tightens. Thinking quickly I use my free hand to grab my knife.
I grin as I move to cut the cord. Cord Man growls and pulls his cord back. A heartbeat later the warrior whips the cord at me again. One blow hits my cheek. Fire seeps into my face. Prelling ass.
When the cord comes back, I readjust the angle of my blade in the last second. With a hard swing of my blade, I cut the demon cord.
Victory pulses through me but a star nicking my thigh ends the feeling. I catch sight of metal gleaming in the sunlight. I try to dodge the next star. I prepare for a hit but the ping of metal is all I hear.
Von’s throwing knife just knocked Star Man’s weapon away from me. I smile when the star packing male snarls. It’s good to have a TocGar on my side.
Knowing our mission has to be completed, I nudge Von. He says, “Drosp,” which allows us to up our game. We are outnumbered and in an unfriendly uncaring crowd.
One blink later, all three of us release smoke bombs. As our enemie
s choke and curse, I grab onto Von’s vest and Tairin grabs hold of mine. We maneuver through the sputtering crowd and toward our craft.
Once at the spot where our spacecraft would be if we’d been on Dagrin, I feel a surge of victory. I slap Von and Tairin on their backs. We growl and yell out victoriously.
Commander Din Tuk HalFe approaches us. “Well done. Looks like you three are ready to go to Dagrin in the morning. Your mission is important so you’ll need to stay on alert the whole time you’re there. I’ve heard that the dagrinians are having trouble with the clocpinians as well as a few extremist groups from their own planet. Get some rest. You’re going to need it.”