by Dakota Dawn
Wanting to see blood, she readied the gun again and pointed it at the other male with them and fired. He cried out when the BB hit him in the eye. His hand flew to his face, covering the wound, but blood oozed from under his hand. She sniffed the air and gloried in the scent of fresh blood. This gun was going to be so much fun.
“Gather the balls up and let’s go,” she commanded the blond man. Once again it delighted her to watch him do her bidding. That never got old.
The lights flickered and she briefly wondered if Boashin, her four-armed, blue-skinned servant, had paid the bill. When they came back on steadily, she knew he had. He’d been paying the bills all these years with the money they found on her enthralled earthlings. Life was great.
As they walked past one of the earthlings she had sweeping the hall, she readied the gun and shot the female in the arm. Laughter rose from Attinie’s chest when the female dropped the broom and cried out. A big welt appeared on the servant’s skin.
“Get back to work, servant,” she ordered and shot the female in the butt when she bent to pick up the broom. The servant yelped and rubbed the spot she’d been shot at. “Now,” she bellowed and laughed when the female went back to her task. Moving on, she went to the outdoor courtyard. The owners had built a strong stone home that had four walls that surrounded the lovely courtyard. It gave her the perfect place to keep her pet owls. Each owl was some do-gooder she hadn’t been able to enthrall. Right now she had ten pets. The number fluctuated as some died and she found others.
Stopping out of their chain reach, she watched them and wondered which one to shoot first. A few of them had proven themselves to be tough bastards. Attinie pulled on her sagging chin skin as she stared at them. They were a reminder of how weak she was on her home planet and how powerful she was on her new home planet.
Most Roseanthians could change a being into any other being they wanted, but her family was cursed and could only change a being into the first one they saw on a planet. Unfortunately, the first animal she’d seen on earth was an owl flying through the night sky. She longed to have seen a tiger, lion, or bear first. Those wild beasts would surely have torn apart each other and fed from the dead carcasses if they’d been as starved as the owls. These pathetic creatures never killed and ate each other. Could be their stinking good hearts. She still bet the wilder, more vicious animals would have eaten each other.
Needing to feel her pets’ pain, she grabbed one of the balls her servant held and threw it at one of the smarter owls that had lived for years. A curse flew past her sharp teeth when the owl easily moved out of the way of the quickly moving ball. She was no weakling compared to earthlings. Grabbing the second ball, she threw it at one of her newer pets. Satisfaction hummed through her when the ball hit the owl in the head and knocked the feathered creature out.
The scent of her long-term servant, Boashin, had her turning. He was stunningly blue, not that she’d ever tell him that. After all, he was beneath her since he only had four arms.
Holding up the gun, she said, “Look what I found. It is quite primitive, but it doesn’t stink and is so much fun.” She readied the gun and shot it at her pretty, blue servant.
* * * *
Boashin caught the BB and looked at it. “You’re right. It is primitive and beneath you, I’d think, mistress.” He was really tired of this bitch. If his honor wasn’t at stake, he’d leave her.
“You aren’t any fun at all. If you weren’t so useful I’d kill you,” Attinie said and then turned to the owls.
Keeping a calm looking demeanor, he watched as she cocked the BB gun and shot the green-eyed owl that had been with them for fifty years. It took the hit with only a ruffle of its feathers. Attinie shot at it until it slipped from its perch. Her cackling laughter raked across his nerves.
“Did you see that? I made that tough bastard fall.” She pointed the gun at one of the newer owls she’d recently turned and shot. This one made a pained sound and flinched. She laughed and shot it another three times. Laughing as it trembled in pain. He watched her aim at the blue-eyed owl that had been with them for over sixty years. The BB flew from the gun and hit the owl in the shoulder. The bird didn’t flinch, he just stared at Attinie. She shot at him another four times and screamed when he didn’t flinch or stumble. He wondered if the blue-eyed owl and three of the other owls could be something besides human. Those four had been with them between fifty to over sixty years. His stupid mistress didn’t realize how long they’d been there. She realized they were tough and had lived longer than some, but she had no idea how long they’d truly been with them.
Attinie looked down at him from her seven-foot height and screeched, “Don’t feed them for weeks. We’ll see how tough these owls are when they haven’t eaten a single bug for weeks.”
“Yes, mistress,” he lied. Boashin had no intention of totally starving the poor creatures. He fed them every chance he got, which at times was only once every two to three days. With his own life on the line, he couldn’t take the chance of getting caught.
Watching and waiting, he stood by her side as she pointed the gun at the owl she’d knocked out with a ball as he was entering the courtyard. The animal moved and stood up. She laughed dementedly and rapidly cocked and fired the gun at the dazed owl. The poor animal cried out and trembled until it finally took its last shuddering breath and died.
Attinie kept shooting at the corpse until she shot its head off. With a depraved gleam in her opal eyes, she turned the gun on the servant she’d shot in the eye and shot him there again. He stumbled back and cried as he covered his freshly bleeding eye with his hand. She cocked the gun again and shot at him, but no BB came out. Curses bounced off the walls as her fun was halted.
“Fix it,” she yelled at the blond male standing a few feet away.
The human stepped forward and took the gun. Boashin watched as the human opened the bucket that held the BBs. Not about to let this continue, he started fake sneezing and stumbled into the servant. With a swat of two of his hands, he knocked the bucket from the human’s hands. BBs bounced and rolled all over the stone floor.
He sneezed a few more times and then turned to his enemy. “I’m so sorry, mistress. Would you like me to pick these BBs up?”
Sparks flew through her opal eyes. “You stupid fool.” She reached out and slapped him hard with three of her hands. Blood oozed from the corner of his mouth.
The blond male took a step toward the empty bucket and slipped on some BBs. The little metal balls were all over the stone floor. The Roseanthian’s evil laugh let him know she’d come up with a new plan.
Attinie pointed at one of the humans who had been standing around with several others watching the horrible show. “Come,” she ordered. The black-haired man made his way to her, slipping once on the BBs. With gleaming eyes she pointed at the human she’d shot in the eye. Blood dripped from the brown-haired man’s eye. This wasn’t right. On the inside Boashin was screaming for justice.
The two men stood before Attinie. She spoke a few Roseanthian words and laughed when the men’s eyes became bloodshot and they looked at each other and started chanting must kill. Using all six of her arms, she pushed the two men away from her and laughed when they both slipped and fell to the BB-covered stone floor.
“This is so exciting. I’m so smart. I deserve to be ruler of this planet. Did you see how I turned a bad situation into a good one? Your bumbling could have ended my fun. It didn’t because I am superior to every creature on this planet,” Attinie stated with pride. She clapped two pairs of her hands when the one-eyed man pushed the black-haired man onto his back and started hitting the down man in the face. The blood from his injured eye dripped down onto the man he was repeatedly hitting.
“I love these fights. You never know who is going to win. Right now the injured one is fighting like a true warrior.” Demented excitement heightened her voice and lit her eyes.
Warriors should never die just to entertain a narcissistic being. Dying for your
planet, family, or lover, yes, but never like this.
In a quick turn of events the one-eyed man slipped and his opponent shoved him backward. The bleeding, brown-haired man landed on his back. Chanting louder, he got up on his knees and looked around as best he could with his one good eye. The black-haired man came at his one-eyed opponent from his blind side and grabbed the man’s head. Before the black-haired man could snap his neck, the brown-haired man rolled his butt forward on the BBs and kicked up at the same time. With a loud crack the black-haired man’s nose was kicked back into his skull. He fell forward onto his opponent, dead before he landed.
The one-eyed man pushed the dead body off him and rose to his feet. He didn’t stop chanting must kill until Attinie released him from the spell.
The Roseanthian clapped all three pairs of her hands. “That was wonderful. Don’t you think, servant?” she asked Boashin.
“Yes, mistress,” he lied. Glancing at the owls, he swore he saw a mixture of hatred and sadness in several of their eyes.
“Take our winner to the kitchen and feed him well. He has earned some special treatment. When you’re done come back in here and pick up these BBs. Have a few of these earthlings help you,” she ordered and then headed for the door leading to her private rooms.
“Yes, mistress,” he called after her. He’d learned to do that after she’d killed the closest human to her seventy years ago when he didn’t call out a reply to her back.
As he led the bleeding winner to the kitchen, he stopped long enough to grab the first aid kit he’d ordered online. Boashin dreamed of Attinie’s death as he took care of the man.
Chapter Nine
Zotikos could barely keep up with Pierce’s speeding thoughts. Tonight they were going to build his greenhouse and plow the ground of three massive gardens. It had been a week since Pierce’s greenhouse had been burned down. Darrin was already in the kitchen talking with some of their early arrivals. With his friends’ help they’d have all of the building done by morning.
First they needed to remove Pierce’s stitches. The black thread could have come out of Pierce’s forehead a few days ago, but they’d been too busy buying everything they needed for tonight.
He whipped out his sharp pocket knife and pointed at a chair in their bedroom. “Sit and be very still.” Pierce dropped into the chair and looked at the knife. “Yes, it’s sharp,” he answered his mate’s thoughts.
Zotikos massaged the skin around the stitches until it loosened enough for him to slide the tip of the blade under a stitch. With a fast flick of his wrist, the blade cut the thread. After putting his knife away, he started pulling the thread out of Pierce’s skin. He grinned when his human mate cursed.
“I told you we should have taken these out days ago so they would have less time to stick. As I recall you said sleep was more important,” he reminded his unhappy mate.
“Fuck. Are you almost done? That hurts and feels weird,” Pierce complained loudly.
Tugging the last stitch out, he kissed Pierce’s scar and then said, “There. It’s all done. You can quit acting like a baby.”
Pierce looked up at him as he rubbed his forehead. “You don’t think of me as a girl at all, do you?”
“No, you’re my man. Look at you. Every pore in your body exudes maleness. A manliness I’m very attracted to,” he reassured his mate.
Zotikos’s heart filled with pride and love when Pierce’s thoughts and feelings revealed that his mate now truly knew in his head and heart that he was seen as and loved for being the man he was.
Darrin walked into the room and strode over to them. He smiled at Pierce and lightly touched their mate’s scar. “Not bad. You are officially ruggedly handsome like me. Just not as rugged. You can’t claim the higher level of ruggedness until you have a bigger scar like mine. Hopefully, that’ll never happen to you.”
Greg popped into the room, startling him and Darrin. That damn spirit could be a pain.
The see-through spirit floated over to Pierce and blew in his ear.
“Stop it,” Darrin growled at Greg when Pierce rubbed his ear.
“Stop what? I’m just thinking about all the things we need to get done tonight. Did you guys feel a breeze?” Pierce asked.
“It was Greg, my stupid ghost friend,” Darrin replied as he frowned at Greg.
“I was just playing. You don’t have to get so pissy,” Greg grumbled.
The spirit’s presence never bothered Pierce since he couldn’t see or hear the ghost. That was good. “What do you need, Greg?” he asked.
“Oh, Conlin’s here. I was just letting Darrin know.” Greg looked around the room.
“You’re spying. Go away,” Darrin accused with a flip of his hand.
Greg crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. “Okay, I’m spying. I just need to know you’re all right and that you’re living in a good home.”
Zotikos’s respect for Greg went up another notch. Now if the spirit would just leave Pierce alone they could begin to get along better.
“I’m their mate, not their puppy.” Darrin gestured around the room. “As you can see I’m fine. Go tell Conlin we’ll be out in a second.”
Greg looked around one more time and then disappeared from the room.
Pierce got up and went to the closet and slipped his shoes on. He watched his mate go to the dresser mirror and look at his scar.
“Do I look okay?” Pierce asked as he touched his scar.
“More than okay.” Zotikos looked at his human mate standing there in low rise jeans and a fitted T-shirt. They’d taken him shopping a few days ago. Pierce was all male. It had taken all of one hour to buy his wardrobe. His man knew which clothes fit him best. His gaze strayed to Pierce’s muscular arms and he had to will his cock not to spring up. “It’s just a fine line with a few dots. After several more doses of my serum the dots should go away.”
Darrin came over and raked his teeth over Pierce’s neck a few times. Their human mate shivered at the contact. “Mine, too, one of these days. Right now we have people waiting. Let’s go build a greenhouse.” Darrin walked over to the bedroom door and opened it.
When they entered the kitchen Zotikos looked around. That so many of their friends were able to show up was wonderful. It meant they would most likely reach their goals. It was time he address the group. “First off, I want to thank all of you for showing up. For any of you who haven’t met my mates, they are Pierce and Darrin.” He touched each on the shoulder as he said their names.
Cheers swirled through the room. Once they died down, he continued, “We have several goals tonight. The biggest is the greenhouse. Some of the frame was set with cement several days ago. We still need to finish the frame, put on the roof, and sides which will be layers of screen and heavy plastic. Pierce can tell you what layers he wants where. Once that is done we need to lay out the large limestone pieces to make a floor. If needed they can be chipped to fit closely together. Some workbenches and indoor and outdoor sitting benches need to be built. Sal and Neil are here to guide us with all of the carpentry work. One more thing we’d like to get done is the garden beds plowed. Whit and Parker have supercharged the tractors for that task.” He turned to Pierce. “Is that it?”
“No. We need someone to put in the motion sensor lights all around the garden.”
Jose and Taylor’s hands went up. “We can do that,” Taylor said.
“Great. Looks like we’re ready to get this party started. Follow me to the lumber and supplies area.” Zotikos led the group outdoors.
They had been working for an hour. The sound of Whit and Parker plowing the ground had him grinning because every time they got anywhere near each other they revved their engines like racecar drivers. Those two were a pair. The frame was coming along nicely.
He cringed when Sal snapped, “Neil, you fucking idiot, I asked you to bring me a four-by-four not a two-by-four. What is your problem tonight? You not getting enough ass now that Darrin found his mate? Snap out of it.”<
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If Sal wasn’t so good at his job Tristan would have sent him packing a long time ago. As rough as Sal was, Neil was learning a lot from the grouchy carpenter. Neil was one thick-skinned man, otherwise he would have left his apprentice position with Sal years ago.
Neil returned with the four-by-four and a level. “About time you got your head out of your ass and started thinking.” Sal took the level from Neil and placed it against the set four-by-four.
He wasn’t surprised when Joaquin snapped. The man had been nearby working on the frame. Every word from Sal’s mouth built the anger level in Joaquin.
The angry vampire stepped up to Sal. “Leave Neil alone. I’ve already had enough of your abusive tongue for tonight and we’re just getting started.”
“What I say to Neil is none of your damn business. Go back to your task so we can get this done, dumbass,” Sal said in a firm tone.
“If this wasn’t important I’d kick your ass right now.” Joaquin’s eyes were blazing.
“If you think you are bad enough, go f—” Sal started taunting, but grabbed his throat when his voice quit working.
Luke laughed and then mumbled, “Now we can work in peace.” The older elf went back to his task merrily.
Sal walked up to Luke and tried to shout at the elf.
“Sorry, I can’t hear you,” Luke said with a shrug of his shoulder.
Sal was turning redder by the second. Zotikos feared the grouchy vamp would burst a vessel if he didn’t get his voice back soon.
Caleb, who was also working nearby, walked over to Luke. “You know Sal can’t be left without his voice all night, right?”
When Luke had to think about it, Caleb added, “This greenhouse is important to Pierce and to us as well because we buy spices and herbs from him.”
Joaquin, who had been smiling ever since Luke had cast a mute spell, was now looking resigned to the fact that Sal needed his voice.