by Regine Abel
“Ghan!” Amalia called out, brushing past me after him.
He stopped, turning his face just enough to give her a profile view of its unscarred side. He didn’t meet her eyes.
“Yes, Seha Praghan?”
“Amalia, please,” she said. “That Seha stuff is too formal for me.” She shrugged. “Please look at me.”
He stilled. His jaw clenched as he turned to face her. I almost intervened, but my gut told me to stay out of it. She walked up to him, barely two feet between them and craned her neck to look up at him. She slowly examined every inch of his coarse face and the livid scar across it.
“Hi!” she chirped.
He blinked slowly. “Hi…”
“So… I had a really interesting conversation with Lhor today. You know what he said?”
Ghan shook his head slowly, giving me a confused glance. I was confused too. Lhor gave me a knowing look and nodded reassuringly.
“He chastised me because I’m affectionate with people I care about. Apparently, it’s a big no-no in Xelixian society. You can’t make contact with others ever unless they’re your mate. Touching another male in public would be disrespectful to Khel. I think that’s pretty lame. How about you?”
Ghan blinked again, surely thinking she was crazy. I was starting to wonder too.
“Hmmm, big talker,” she mumbled to herself. “Society also says that the Tainted should cover up in public not to offend people’s sensibilities. See, that’s another super lame rule. Tainted are people too. What about their sensibilities? Anyways, you’re at home, not in public. I’ve seen your face. I’ve seen your Taint. I’ve seen your scar and I don’t give a shit. If you want to offend me, go get that veil. Otherwise, can we eat now? I’m hungry.”
If I wasn’t so stunned myself, I would laugh at Ghan’s mystified expression. After a beat, she raised an impatient eyebrow at him, urging him to answer. He blinked again and nodded slowly. She beamed.
“Awesome!” Amalia hooked her right arm through his and dragged his gigantic frame after her. “By the way, thanks for protecting me from that crazy nurse.” She bumped her shoulder with his. “Yes Lhor, I touched him and I’m about to touch you too. We’re not in public so suck it up.” She hooked her other arm into Lhor’s, pulling him along.
I gaped at my mate, sandwiched between my two – very dazed – best friends, as she led them enthusiastically toward the dinette. She looked at me over her shoulder and winked.
* * *
“You don’t fear me,” Ghan said, halfway through the meal.
“Define fear?” Amalia said. “I mean, if your question is ‘do I want to run for the hills every time I see you,’ then the answer would have been ‘oh yes!’ the first time I saw you. You know, self-preservation and all that. You look like you can kick ass and take names without breaking a sweat – which I’m sure you do on a regular basis. But since then, I’ve found out you’re Khel’s best friend and you’ve been trying to help me find Gruuk. So no, I’m not scared anymore. But if your question is ‘do I find you intimidating’? Then yes, absolutely. I mean, your muscles have muscles – that also have muscles. You move as quietly as a ghost but as fast as a krillik. So yeah, I wouldn’t want to mess with you.”
“He’s also as slippery as those wretched snakes,” Lhor teased, ignoring Ghan’s glare.
“You’re not what I expected a recently freed slave to be like,” Ghan said.
I gave him a warning look. He held it without flinching, then looked at her expectantly. She tilted her head, her eyes taking a faraway look as she pondered the question.
“Yeah. I can see why you would think that. I guess you expected me to be squeamish, jumping at shadows, broken and submissive.”
Ghan nodded slowly, his stare intense. This was making me uncomfortable but I had to admit, I’d wondered about that too.
“I guess I was lucky in my misfortune. Gruuk wasn’t a cruel master.”
“Excuse me?” I interjected.
“It’s true. He wasn’t cruel.” She shrugged, pushing her food around her plate with her fork. “I’ve seen plenty of cruel masters. They take pleasure in abusing and torturing their slaves. Gruuk wasn’t like that. He’s never physically hurt me in any way. He didn’t allow violence against the captives without a ‘good reason,’ though his crew exploited every opportunity. Good behavior was rewarded, but bad behavior was severely punished.”
Ghan rested his forearms on the table. “He sounds like quite the model of virtue.”
“No, of course not.” Amalia put down her fork and slumped in her chair. “Gruuk is practical. He has no emotions, no concern whatsoever for his slaves. They were merchandise and I was a tool. Well maintained tools are more efficient while merchandise in good condition brings in a bigger profit. He only inflicted the punishment he believed would yield the best results. If one of the captives acted up, he would have her beaten, raped or tortured based on which treatment would most likely break her the first time. Then he would have her mended and left alone.”
Her eyes got that faraway look again. “Most of the captives acted up at some point, no matter how often I told them not to. Some of them multiple times. Gruuk didn’t mind because it gave his crew opportunities to give in to their baser instincts while respecting his rules. Some of the crewmates joined The Revenant specifically for a chance to ‘discipline’ the females.”
“And that isn’t cruel how?” I asked.
“Not cruel in the sense that he didn’t look for excuses to hurt us. The first time I tried to escape was the only time I ever gave him a reason to punish me. Aside from that, I had a decent bed, three meals a day, books and vids to keep me entertained, all the medical care I wanted, a gym to keep fit and above all, my Nana. Gruuk didn’t need me submissive or broken. As long as I didn’t cause problems and completed the missions he wanted, he was content to leave me be.”
“Sounds like you had a pretty good life then,” Ghan deadpanned.
She cringed when she noticed our disturbed expressions.
“Ugh, I’m saying it all wrong.” She rubbed her face in frustration. “I’m not defending Gruuk. He is a monster. We weren’t people to him. We were less than animals. If a buyer wanted a submissive pet, Gruuk would have broken the captive until she met specifications. But my usefulness to him didn’t require me to be broken. So yes, in comparison to the thousands of slaves that have come and gone on The Revenant, I had a pretty good life.”
A haunted look crept into her eyes. “But if I hadn’t escaped when I did, I would have been broken. Helping him capture females to sell them into slavery was already killing me. But Gruuk was also going to start breeding me. I found out the morning I escaped that he had found a Korlethean for me. We were to pick him up right after we left Xelix Prime. If I didn’t go willingly to that male, Gruuk would’ve kept me drugged until I’d conceived. Then he would have sold my child, used her as a tool or sent her to one of his breeding facilities. That would have destroyed me. That’s why my Nana didn’t let me miss this chance to run, even if that meant leaving her behind.”
The thought of Amalia and any other female used like chattel made me want to shed blood. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the son of Gharah. I would teach him what it felt like to be broken. Amalia shuddered and hugged herself. I pulled her onto my lap, embracing her.
“You will never be at his mercy again. I will kill him before he gets anywhere near you.”
She buried her face in my neck, huddling closer as another shiver ran through her.
Ghan nodded then got on his feet. “Khel, I’ll await you at the compound.” Ghan locked eyes with Amalia. “Thank you for dinner, little Amalia.”
He turned and started walking away.
“I’m not little.”
He stopped mid-stride and glanced at her over his shoulder. “Right. More like tiny.”
Lhor nearly choked on the flexina tea he sipped. “Did Ghan just try to make a joke?”
I shook my head, floore
d. “Ghan doesn’t make jokes. Ever.”
“He totally did!” Amalia said, awe-struck. “Go, Ghan,” she whispered, smiling.
* * *
Ghan and I stood outside the interrogation room of the compound, where a very scared Yhul Mirvhen was about to meet his worst nightmare – me. The spaceport controller had information I wanted.
“Khel, I’ve put the Squad on high alert,” Ghan said. “When I picked up Mirvhen, he kept saying V would kill him and all of us if he failed to check in on schedule. Mirvhen went into hiding at V’s bidding once Amalia came up missing.”
“I want round-the-clock perimeter patrol and surveillance of the estate,” I ordered. “The warriors are to remain armed and battle-ready at all times. A ground attack isn’t likely. We would see them coming from miles away. So they will either try to infiltrate us or perform an airstrike. I want two warriors responsible for getting all non-combatant staff to the bunker should we come under attack. Ghan, make sure we’ve got proper air defense coverage for the whole estate.”
“On it.” Ghan nodded.
V was getting desperate. His plans to take out Amalia had failed and we were closing in on his slave trade activities. Desperate people made mistakes. The spaceport controller might just be the edge I needed. I walked into the interrogation room. Like Letha before him, Mirvhen sat with his wrists shackled to the armrests but there was no fight in him.
“You have information I want.” I closed the door behind me. “You’ll answer each of my questions without hesitation. Failure to do so will result in extreme pain. There will be no deals and no negotiations. Is that clear?”
Mirvhen didn’t raise his head. “Yes.”
“Good. Now, do you know Gruuk Vrok?” I asked.
“N–not personally. B–But I know of him.”
“What do you know of him?”
Mirvhen bit his lip. “He trades exclusive merchandise with some of the noble houses, but their business is underground.”
I sat at the edge of the table, facing him. “Which noble houses?”
“I d–d–don’t know. I was always contacted by a male named V who gave me instructions, but that’s all.”
“What’s the nature of the merchandise he trades with them?”
“I never saw the merchandise. I disabled the surveillance cameras when he loaded cargo. Then I changed the shipping manifests to hide his docking times and locations. That’s as far as my interaction with Gruuk went.”
“And you have no idea what that merchandise was?” I asked dubiously.
“Some were female slaves. The rest I assume were contraband goods.”
“How do you know they were female slaves? And where were they taken?”
He began to shake, his lips quivering. He shook his head, refusing to answer. I stood up and cracked my knuckles. His eyes widened in fright, reading my clear intention of rewarding his lack of cooperation with the pain I’d promised.
“WAIT! WAIT!” he shouted. “I–I will tell you!” He swallowed audibly with relief when I relaxed my stance. I had no problem beating up scumbags. In fact, I relished it. “T–They were meant for the Blood Houses. That’s how V got me to sign up in the first place.”
Amalia mentioned the last three captives were destined for a Blood House, but she had no idea what that was. I felt my excitement rising; we were close. It would make Amalia happy to see those females released.
“What are the Blood Houses? And what was in it for you?”
“It’s a place where, for a fee, Tainted males can get what they need to survive.”
I crossed my arms, eyeing him with contempt. “You mean a place where a Tainted male in terminal phase can miraculously rid himself of all symptoms?”
He paled, wincing. “Yes.”
“Explain,” I demanded. “Be specific.”
“Four years ago, I was dying. I only had a few days left when V approached me. He said he could make me better. All I had to do was change the records once or twice a month and look the other way for a few hours. I was in constant pain; I would have done anything. He told me to come with him and I could sample a cure.”
“You met V in person?” I perked up.
“No. Well… I don’t think so. He told me to go to a derelict warehouse; the old Frolhan Factory. There was an eye mask sitting in a container by the entrance for me to wear, then someone would take me to my reward. I was to follow him without a fuss. With nothing left to lose, I accepted.”
Mirvhen took a deep breath before continuing. “Some male walked me to a transport. I couldn’t see but it felt like a small personal shuttle. The flight lasted about fifteen minutes before we arrived at our destination. He brought me inside a building. It was scary quiet. Then he led me to a room before abandoning me.”
“Then what?” Lhor asked after Mirvhen paused too long.
Ghan walked into the room and gave me a nod confirming my orders had been handled. He leaned against the wall.
“I–I heard a v–voice over the com system t–telling me I could remove my blindfold,” Mirvhen said, intimidated by Ghan’s return. “I was in a room with six females; five Terrans, one Avean, all lying down on small cots. They were restrained and had blinders and earplugs. The voice told me to pick the female I liked best. So I chose one of the Terrans. When I did, a blind female came into the room and touched the one I selected. Seconds after that, the Terran had an orgasm and the voice told me to drink.”
“What?” Ghan said.
“Who was that blind female?” I fought the sick feeling at the thought of what these poor females were put through.
“I–I don’t know. She was a slave. Same species as your mate.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “Same species as my mate? How the fuck do you know what species my mate is?”
“Same species, yes. With the same markings on her arms and legs. The Witnesses took a lot of pictures of her at your Fastening. Her image is everywhere.”
I cursed inwardly. They would be fascinated by such an exotic creature. But the added publicity wasn’t welcomed when we had so many enemies.
“So that blind female causes the bound females to climax?” I asked.
“Something like that. Though they say she doesn’t actually give them orgasms. She manipulates their thoughts or plants thoughts in their heads. She convinces the females they’re having an orgasm, so they do. And that releases the hormones for the customers to drink.”
“Customers?”
“Yeah. In exchange for my services, I got to drink for free once a week. Every time, it was the same process. But everyone else were paying customers. As I understand it, drinks are expensive and mostly bought by unmated nobles.”
“Have you met any of those customers?”
“No. I was always alone when... My appointments were at three thirty in the afternoon. They wanted me to do my business then get out. I think the females were set up for the customers who were scheduled to arrive after I left.”
“So you’ve been drinking from that Terran for the past four years?” Ghan said.
Mirvhen paled, then blushed, averting his eyes with uneasiness.
“Err… well, no. Not for the past four years.” He swallowed. “It was her for the first couple of years, but one day I got back and she’d been replaced. The females were replaced on average every two years for Terrans and every year for Aveans.”
“Why?” I uncrossed my arms and leaned against the table, gripping the edges with both hands. I knew I would hate what he was about to say even more. “What happened to them?”
“When my female was replaced, I asked the guard what happened. He said the females eventually became immune to the blind female’s touch or were too used up to produce enough oxytocin for drinks. The Terrans lasted the longest.”
“He asked you what happened to them,” Ghan growled, straightening from his leaning position when Mirvhen stopped.
“They told me they were sent to the other section of the Blood House,”
Mirvhen said quickly. “For a cheaper price, Norms and Tainted could have sex with them. The release they provided and trace hormones they produced were enough to stop or slow the progression of the Taint in those customers.”
I realized I punched him when his shout of pain echoed in the room and blood exploded from his mouth. I wanted to beat him to a pulp until the light faded from his perfectly untainted face. That such horror had gone on for so many years right under my nose made me sick. I watched him whimper and cry with utter contempt.
“They told you?” I challenged. “You want me to believe you didn’t take part in that other bit of fun?”
“NO! I didn’t.” Mirvhen sobbed. “I’ve never been to the other rooms. I only drank. I’m not a rapist!”
“Oh but you are a rapist, you piece of shit!” I held his chin in a bruising hold, forcing him to look at me. “Every time you requested an orgasm, you raped her. Every time you sank your fangs into that female and took what she had not given to you freely, you raped her. And the hundreds – or is it thousands – of females you allowed to be taken into that pit to be raped, are all there because of you!”
“I had no choice. I was dying!”
“Then you should have died!” I shoved his head back, releasing him with disgust. “You are Xelixian. We protect females. We don’t abuse them. I just hope the four years you’ve stolen from these females was worth it. One final question… Are there any other Blood Houses?”
Snot bubbled around Mirvhen’s nose. “I don’t know. I’ve only ever been to the one.”
I turned to Ghan who stared at Mirvhen with murder in his eyes. “I’ve seen and heard more than I can stomach from this piece of filth. The law states that in the case of rape, the offending limb is to be removed.”
“I didn’t rape them!” Mirvhen screeched, struggling against his restraints in panic.
“You didn’t sink your cock into them,” I said. “Lucky for you, or you would lose that too.” I turned back to Ghan. “Find out what else he knows then pull out his fangs and his venom glands.”
“With pleasure,” Ghan replied. The sadistic glimmer in his eyes as he stared at Mirvhen made even me shudder.