by Rena Marks
I keep in contact with Lori—Socorro always present—for the next several months while her husband finishes his project. Together, we watch her baby grow fatter and bigger. Finally, on the last day, Lori presses an envelope of papers into my hands.
“She knows you do not wish medical training,” Socorro says. “But she says this is a passport and plane ticket and plenty of cash. She wishes for you to visit her in the States whenever you would like. An all-expense paid trip.”
I have grown attached to the chubby little imp who suckles at her breast, so I agree. Two months later, I spend one week in the States. It is on that return trip home when I am abducted by monsters.
The limousine drops me off at the hotel, where I can relax before my flight. I have several hours still and will walk the gardens. A shuttle will take me the short distance to my departure gate, and I do not even have luggage to carry. It has been handled and delivered for me.
There are herbs in the garden—rosemary, thyme, and sage. Even a bit of mint. It is a hybrid plant, and I cannot tell if it is peppermint or spearmint. But my stomach has been anxious all day. I am ready to return home, there is no doubt about that. Yet seeing another country has shown me an entirely different way of life. As I sit and try to relax, the acids in my stomach burn. An uncomfortable tingle burns the back of my neck.
I decide to meditate, to pray to the Mayan gods for protection. I reach for a piece of mint, and chew it to settle my stomach. Then I close my eyes.
A whoosh sweeps through my stomach. I open my mouth to gasp, and I’m surprised when I do not hear the influx of air. Slowly I open my eyes.
The air all around me is red, and I’m hovering about ten feet over the bench in the herb garden. Surely I must be having a vision during my meditation, though I didn’t recall slipping into the meditative state yet.
I am glad for the protective qualities of the mint in my mouth. It calms me, because this vision seems so real. I close my eyes and breathe deeply.
It’s the last thing I remember.
Atareek senses my racing heartbeat, and he stirs. His large hand moves up from my waist to cup my breast, and he kisses the top of my head. Then there is a rattling at the doorway before a head juts in through the curtain we use as doors.
“Valencia.” The voice is a low whisper. “Niki is in labor.”
The only one who knows of my past is Tessa. She and I became friends and were originally going to share a cave together, but I moved in with Atareek instead. Tessa now lives with Tijar and Jeroc.
I open an eye, turning in Atareek’s arms even as he turns to see.
“She’s having difficulty?” I ask.
She nods. “It’s her nerves mostly. Being the first one to have a hybrid. And she thinks the gestation is too early, which has sent her into a panic. Reverent mother thinks the cord is twisting around the baby’s neck. And…” Tessa breathes deep. “He’s breach.”
That is enough reason for Tessa to break her promise about not revealing my past.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
I smile to reassure her. “It’s all right. Part of me knew it had to come out eventually. I guess I just wanted to have a longer reprieve. But that was selfish of me. I’ve had over a year off from delivering babies.”
“Come in and wait, Tessa,” Atareek says, slipping from the furs. Nudity is a way of life for Blaedonians, but Tessa averts her eyes. I know why—she has a heightened sex drive and tries hard to be respectful of others.
I kiss Atareek. He is the sweetest man on the planet. He dresses and brings me my clothes. I dress quickly, tying a leather band around my breasts to act as a bra. My breasts are larger than most, even though we all have less body fat after living on this planet for a year. But heredity follows me, and I am shaped like Tessa. We both have large breasts, tiny-waists, and curvy hips, good for birthing. Like Tessa, I may never choose to have children. Niki, on the other hand, is smaller. Athletic. And this will be a large baby.
I turn so Tessa can tie my leather band at my back. Normally Atareek does it and when he’s off hunting, I tie it in front. It’s just more comfortable in back.
“I wondered how you kept the girls in line,” she murmurs, looking down at her own large breasts.
“I will give you one of my bras,” I laugh. “Atareek will make me more.”
“Anything you wish,” he confirms, bringing me a flask of water and a toothbrush branch. It’s a small, hand-sized branch with stiffened outgrowth like bristles on one end. It’s not toothbrush shaped, more like a large cotton swab. But it foams nicely. I brush my mouth quickly, and he brings me a bowl to spit in. I tie my long hair up in a ponytail on top my head, and kiss my man. I really don’t know what I’d do without him.
“Let’s go,” I say to Tessa.
Because this delivery will be an adventure.
Abducted
Book 1 in the Blue Barbarian series.
Alien abductions are real.
I was the third female awakened aboard the spacecraft that specialized in kidnapping females. Their mission? To sell us to other galaxies.
Human female Numbers One and Two didn’t make it, but I was lucky. I was able to comprehend the instruction from Drakar, a caged abductee from the planet Blaedonia. I live only because of his warning to me not to fight the aliens who have me on the table. Together, we formulate a plan for escape for both us and the ten other unawakened Earthlings.
Lucky for Drakar, the spaceship crash-lands back on his planet. Unlucky for the Earthlings, we’ll never be able to travel back home.
We’ll have to learn to adapt.
Niki’s Story:
Suddenly my shackles tingle, the sensation shooting down my arms like a spark of electricity. But it doesn’t hurt, or feel uncomfortable. It feels kind of…nice.
In a strange way.
“I can see you, though, little human. I have night vision that your species does not.”
I lick my lips. It doesn't seem fair that I've never seen Drakar, but then he blows warm breath on my neck, and suddenly it no longer matters.
“How do you like to be touched?” His touch skims across my lower abdomen.
Goosebumps race across my skin and it’s not from cold. It’s instantaneous and it’s weird, but it's sexy. Either he’s a master seducer, or the shackles on my wrists are doing something strange to my libido.
I writhe. “Drakar.”
“Niki.”
“These bracelets are doing something to me.”
“I know. I feel it, too.” His voice exudes sex. “I want you.”
“What’s happening?”
He groans. “Your arousal seduces me.” His breath is heated, and his body temperature feels suddenly warmer.
Stranded
Rena Marks
Book 2 in the Blue Barbarian series.
Alien abductions are real.
I was the fourth female awakened aboard the Drurian spacecraft that specialized in kidnapping females. Their mission? To sell us to other galaxies.
Human female Numbers One and Two didn’t make it, but Niki—also known as Number Three—made it through the experiment of language implantation. I was lucky and she transferred the gift of languages to me. I’m now able to understand the sexy, blue barbarians who have taken us in on the planet Blaedonia.
Now, Niki has mated to the King of Blaedonia and Drakar has decided to mate me to his best friend Rayhaan. Apparently the barbarians are clueless to the fact that Earthlings choose their own men.
Lucky for me, I have an opportunity to travel home. Unlucky for Rayhaan, he’s forced to do my bidding to woo me.
Because now, a girl has options.
Taken
Rena Marks
Book 3 in the Blue Barbarian series.
As if things weren’t hard enough when I was taken by aliens, ten of us human females are dumped onto a strange new planet to integrate with the natives. But the last thing I remember is I refused to tie myself to anyone.
No
w I awaken from an overdose of medicinal tea with bizarre gaps in my memory, and I’m mated to Aschero, one of the sexy blue barbarians I’d been fooling around with. As my memories return, I try to piece together the puzzle of why my life is so different than what I remember.
Unfortunately, along with my memories comes a horrible secret I want so desperately to bury.
Stargazer Series
In 1692, a starship carrying volunteers arrived on planet Earth near a small town called Salem, Massachusetts. The long journey across many light years caused the female inhabitants aboard drastic memory loss. It was already known when they would arrive on Earth, they would have no memories of who and what they really were. They would be as helpless as newborn lambs.
The goal was to breed with Earthlings, to prevent their own race from dying out. If it was successful, years later more Stargazers would be sent to co-exist with the humans on Planet Earth.
But alas—the females were slaughtered.
Book 1—The Hunter
Dante and Kele
Book 2 —The Enforcer
Diamond and Felicia
Book 3 —The Defender
Hayze and Cassio
Book 4 —The Protector
Neo and Jessie
Book 5 —The Guardian
Vesta and Bay
Book 6 —The Destroyer
Jace and Mia
The Hunter
Prologue:
The atmosphere in the grand council meeting was tense, grim even. In the center of the room, laser lights of green and blue flashed, drawing attention to the enlarged hologram of the speaker. Around the hologram stood dozens of females. They were dressed in odd clothing, obviously not from this world. The fabric looked coarse, and the garments were crudely designed. They consisted of shapeless cumbersome gowns. Some of the women even wore strange head coverings.
And then the voice boomed.
“We are gathered here to review the report on the future of our race. I am Nepa, and I am your general speaker.”
He paused, allowing the audience time to adjust to the beginning of his speech. The pause wasn't necessary, however, as the entire planet was riveted to this life-altering event.
“As you are all aware, we have spent decades on one ongoing problem. Our females are slowly becoming infertile. At this point, there is a huge imbalance on our planet, with males outnumbering females six to one. With all of our advanced technology, we cannot figure out why. The dilemma of the council consists of reaching out to inhabitable planets to decide if we can co-exist with other species. To interbreed. It is a dilemma because those planets are not as technologically advanced as we are, most are not even aware other space inhabitants exist. Their ignorance may cause fear. What we can offer to those planets is a solution to their own in-breeding, and to share knowledge of future ramifications. As we have discovered, eventually the gene pool narrows so dramatically that every culture faces the same problem we have, the phasing out of a species. We offer this benefit to smaller planets, the knowledge of our experience without having to find out the hard way, as we did.
“However, we are not making contact with other planets at this point. Instead, our scouts will be sent out to see if conditions are favorable.
“Naturally, that is a concern. At this point, our females are precious and few. It hurts every one of us to ship them off to a strange new planet to adapt. We are grateful for the brave volunteers.”
Huge clapping ensued. The hologram vision bowed his head, signaling acknowledgment of the applause. When the clapping ended, he raised his head to speak again.
“We cannot send males at this time. Radiation from the youth of certain stars have rendered males infertile. The feminine reproductive system is encased within the body, protecting it from radiation. We have tried everything possible to mimic the results with males, to no avail. And we are out of time. If we do not split our planet at this time, we face the very grim reality of our population dying out. However, we continue to work on the problem and are confident that males will be able to travel without the threat of sterilization in the next decade. In the meantime, we wish a positive farewell to the cherished females of our planet.
“You each will arrive in various—but nearby—locations on a planet called Earth. We chose Earth because of their limited communications and technology. It is completely necessary that our scouts do not interfere with the education of their planet, instead allowing them to self-educate naturally. For this, our scouts have each agreed to be placed in stasis.”
Hushed whispers swept through the audience.
“I know,” continued the hologram. “Being placed in stasis for an undetermined amount of time will cause permanent brain damage—namely, complete amnesia. You will enter a planet without communication from your own race. You will be 'reborn' in a sense, on planet Earth, dressed in the clothing similar to what other Earthlings wear. You will be ejected from your stasis capsules, and the ship will implode. Your capsules will dissolve, nourishing your bodies, until you awaken. But once you are awake, you will have no knowledge of who or what you are. You will adapt to the planet and learn to live as a human. It will not be easy. Does anyone wish to resign her volunteerism?”
The room was hushed. Of all the females around the hologram, no one stepped up.
“All right. You are aware of the dangers. One condition of your new life, which all of you already know, is permission granting us examination of you and of any offspring you may bear. Your memories will be wiped clean of each future abduction. However, I'm sure it will be a terrifying experience as you will be as immature as an actual Earthling, who have not even experienced space travel yet.
“Ladies, please step into your stasis capsule. Good luck to every one of you.”
Bubbles floated gently around the hologram, circling around the image. Each oddly dressed female stepped forward and entered the shiny, invisible bubble-like capsule. Once inside, they lay horizontally, seeming to float in air as the capsule expanded around them. Immediately, the inner air collapsed and they fell unconscious.
The hologram was solemn. “God be with you.”
Present day:
The Hunter entered the great room of the Communicator. The man who was normally projected as a hologram sat alone, staring out the grand windows that made up an entire wall of his office.
The Communicator spoke without turning around. “Did you set up the portal?”
“I did.”
There was a brief moment of silence while The Hunter came and stood at the wall of windows also. Together they watched their stars. The community down below. The hovering dots of light that signaled their airborne travel system.
“What did you find?” The Communicator's voice was a whisper. “I know your moods, and this somber attitude cannot be good.”
“Most of the travelers were slaughtered.”
“What?” The Communicator turned his head sharply.
But The Hunter still stared out the window.
“They called our females witches. While they were able to blend in with the clothing we assigned, it was suspicious that so many had amnesia and did not have any previous memories. Panic shifted into frenzy and it grew from there.”
“But witches? That is good, is it not? Why would they have been slaughtered?”
“Apparently, on Earth witches do not have the same revered status they do here. There, they were feared. They were believed to be devil worshipers. Instead of being healers, they were said to cast witchcraft.”
The Communicator's mouth fell open. “They still believe the devil exists?”
“The religion of the people where they landed did. A lot of others around the planet believe the same thing. It may have been better if we had sent them a bit earlier, because the more primitive people who had lived in that location prior gave thanks to the environment. They worshiped the land, the air. They did not believe in the devil. We could have changed Earth's history by sending our females a bit earlier. However,
luck of the draw chose one hundred and fifty years ago, when Salem, Massachusetts was already dominated by Puritans. Mass hysteria ensued.”
“We are not to change history,” The Communicator murmured softly. Automatically, almost. But his next words belied his horror. “How many were slaughtered?”
“Ninety-five. However, history has changed the figure to reflect a lot less. Human history tends to smooth over vile acts. The primitives that had lived in the land earlier? They are now called Native Americans. Today they celebrate a holiday as a treaty between the two populations of humans, when in fact they slaughtered the entire community to confiscate their land.”
“The remaining few of ours who survived?”
“They have bred,” The Hunter said. “We do have a handful of descendants on the planet.”
“One small success,” whispered The Communicator. “The descendants are healthy?”
“Yes, our DNA has merged successfully with the native species of Earth. Our ship has monitored a scant handful over the centuries.”
“Then it is time for contact.” He cut his eyes to The Hunter finally. “You will be best for the job. You have been on the crew, gathering the info on the species. I know you have been hunting for a long time. Are you ready for something different?”
The Hunter widened his eyes. “It is not something I had thought about.”
“It will open you up to be one of the first settlers on the new, safe Earth. First in line to find your own mate and have a chance at being part of a family. It is a small reward for your years of servitude to protecting others.”
Dante the Hunter bowed his head.
Kiss Me Before I Die
Vampires are not mythological evil creatures. We are the product of evolution. A changing world with less food and global warming.