Since the mud man that was Tazaxx had stepped away some, I dared to lean back some and let the broad head slip from my mouth.
“Yes, Master,” I murmured breathily. “Let me finish you, please.”
Where in the world I got the nerve to talk like that, I don’t know. Believe me, I knew I was acting as shameless as an actress in a porno. But Sarden’s flavor was still doing something to me—it made me want more and more of him. In fact, I didn’t just want to suck him—I wanted him to take me right there on the floor of the raised platform and I didn’t care who was watching.
But Sarden shook his head firmly, a worried look in his eyes.
“No, I don’t think so. I believe you’ve had enough for now—maybe too much,” he said, making me wonder what he was talking about.
“Master,” I moaned as he tucked himself away, making sure to keep the head of his rigid shaft hidden as he did so. “Master, please.”
“No. That’s enough,” he said firmly. “Come now, Zoe, I need to discuss business with our host before it gets too late.”
He stared at me meaningfully and I realized what he was saying. If the saphor stuff was wearing off this quickly, we really didn’t have time for his, uh, oral gratification. I sat back on my heels and felt my head clearing a little now that I couldn’t smell him or taste him anymore. What was going on with me? Why had I acted like that?
“Well, if you’re sure you’d rather have business than pleasure…” Tazaxx remarked.
“I’m positive.” Sarden’s deep voice still sounded strained and the bulge in his white trousers was evident but he nodded firmly at the mud man, indicating he was ready to deal. “I’ve come here to talk about acquiring some new females for my entourage and I understand you have the best of the best in your collection.”
“That I do.” Tazaxx nodded. “Would you like to see some of them?”
“Please,” Sarden inclined his head.
“Very well,” the mud man said. “Then allow me to lead the way.”
Sarden
I didn’t know what in the Frozen Hells had gotten into Zoe. Or actually, I was afraid I did know, but I could hardly believe it.
Between the different species of bipedal, sentient Terran-type beings the Ancient Ones had brought into existence through their seeding of our universe, there existed certain natural laws that governed absolutely. Most peoples who had grown from the Ancient seeds were sexually compatible in some way but very few were fit to be bonded as mates for life.
What’s the difference in being able to have sex with another life form and being able to bond with them? The ability to bear viable children for one thing, but also the possibility of a permanent emotional connection that grows stronger with every year. Bonded partners can feel each other’s emotions and sometimes even hear each other’s thoughts—it’s a very rare and special occurrence.
And it never happens for half-breeds like me.
Because my DNA was mixed, I was physically unable to form such a strong and lasting connection to any female. I simply wasn’t enough either Eloim or Vorn for a bond to form. And yet, since I had healed Zoe orally and tasted her sweet pussy and she had tasted me as well, I could feel something forming between us. A longing to get closer…a longing that just for a moment, I could swear I felt coming from her as an emotion that touched my soul.
It’s your imagination, I told myself impatiently as we filed off the raised platform and followed the mud creature Tazaxx had become out of the molting room. You can’t bond with anyone—let alone a Pure One.
But if that was true, then why was her scent so sweet when she tasted me? And why had she been so eager to taste even more? Why had I felt her longing? Her desire?
She was putting on an act—hiding you from Tazaxx, I told myself.
But when I glanced down at her, I saw she was still watching me with need in those lovely blue eyes of hers and I swore I could feel it still, as a tingle at my very core. I could hardly look away from her. Gods, the idea that I might ever form that kind of lasting connection with a female…it was an impossible dream. One I had never dared to hope for.
And you shouldn’t hope for it now, the implacable little voice lectured. Especially not with a female you’ve promised to return to her home planet.
Of course, I knew it was right. There was no point in getting attached to Zoe or letting her get attached to me.
Which was exactly what I was afraid was happening.
Zoe
Sarden was quiet as Tazaxx led us out of the molting room and through a wide doorway to a dark hallway beyond. I wondered if he was mad at me—I couldn’t be sure how he was feeling by the blank look on his face. Well, if he was mad, he would just have to get over it—it wasn’t like I’d acted like a porn star just because I liked it.
Oh, you liked it all right, whispered an accusing little voice in my brain. You more than liked it—you didn’t want to stop!
I squirmed uncomfortably, but I had to admit it was true. I hadn’t wanted to stop. There was something about the whole experience—not just the way he tasted or felt in my mouth, it was almost like we were forming some kind of connection.
Okay, now you’re talking crazy, the little voice informed me. There’s no connection here. You’re just along for the ride until Sarden gets his sister back and then it’s back to Earth for you. So stop being all mushy and stupid and get the job done.
Right—that was exactly what I intended to do. I made myself look away from Sarden and pay attention to the darkened hallway we now found ourselves in. It was a long, vast corridor and every hundred feet or so, there was a large, lighted window. Honestly, what it most reminded me of was the reptile area at the zoo—where they kept the room dark so you could see the animals on display better.
We came to the first window and Tazaxx stopped, his bare, mud feet slapping against the cold stone floor.
“Now here we have a Zulian,” he said, pointing to the lighted window. “As you can see, I’ve done my best to preserve her in her native habitat. She’s quite lovely, is she not?”
I looked in through the window and saw a kind of lighted aquarium. Inside long, colorful kelp-like plants swayed in pale pink liquid. Swimming through them was an honest-to-God mermaid. She moved with graceful flips of her long green tail, which shone like jewels in the pinkish water and her hair flowed, long and blonde, over her slim shoulders.
My heart went out to this poor creature in captivity—if Sarden hadn’t had a change of heart, that could have been me. I thought I had never seen anyone more beautiful and harmless looking.
At least, she looked harmless at first.
When we got closer, she swam up to the glass and hissed at Tazaxx, baring a mouthful of sharp, pointed teeth that reminded me of a barracuda. Her eyes went blood red and the tips of her fingers grew three inch long claws—all in the space of a second or two. It was like one of those scary gifs on the Internet where one minute someone looks normal and the next they have a demon face.
“Holy crap!” I jumped back from the window and put a hand to my pounding heart.
“Yes, she is quite a spectacle, isn’t she?” Tazaxx was the only one of us who hadn’t started, at least a little, when the mermaid went all feral on us. “Not for sale, I am afraid. Her planet has since been destroyed so she is the only one of her kind left. Really, I did the poor creature a service rescuing her before her home world was blown to smithereens by an errant asteroid.”
I wondered if the feral mermaid felt like he’d done her a “favor.” From the way she continued to snarl and gnash her needle-sharp teeth, it didn’t look like it to me.
We went on to the next window which contained a kind of desert scene. Bright green sand and dry, spiky plants were the first things I saw. A mercilessly hot light—like the sun at noon—beat down from the roof of the room. I could feel its savage heat right through the glass of the display case.
Then one of the “plants”—a lar
ge, purple cactus-looking one—moved. First one slender limb, then another and then another, each of them covered with long, sharp needles, shifted in our direction. It looked like the cactus was creeping up on us in slow motion. Only when it got right up to the glass did I see that it had a face with wide, staring eyes, slits for nostrils, and a tiny, lipless mouth.
“A Dendrite,” Tazaxx informed us. “Taken from the barren world of Towen Omega. Also not for sale unless you have the means to care for her properly. She needs a six hundred terra-watt heat ray set to maximum constantly to survive and thrive.”
I looked into the wide, alien eyes of the Dendrite girl and she stared back at me. I couldn’t help thinking again of how this could have been me. What kind of habitat would Tazaxx have built me? A Starbucks?
Here we see the white girl in her natural habitat—notice the counter where she is able to order unlimited variations of a beverage Earthlings call “caw-fee.” There are limitless possible combinations of ingredients for this Earth delicacy but they all taste basically the same…
“If you don’t mind, Tazaxx, my time is somewhat limited,” Sarden remarked, derailing my train of thought. “So I’d like to see only those females you feel you can part with.”
“Very well—can you tell me if you’re looking for anything in particular?” Tazaxx’s mud-brown eyes flashed in the dark hallway.
“Hmm…” Sarden pretended to consider. “Well, I do prefer young females—one can raise them correctly to service if one gets them young enough.”
“Ah, well I do have a rather recent acquisition,” Tazaxx remarked. “Sold to me by Byrillian pirates—barely twelve cycles old, as I recall.”
Behind us, I could feel Grav shifting impatiently but he said nothing, though I knew he was itching to see the girl he was warding and make sure she was safe.
“Well…” Sarden pretended to think again, then nodded. “All right. I’ll see her.”
“This way, then.”
Tazaxx in his mud-man shape, led us further down the long, curving, darkened hallway. We were getting pretty far from the molting room and I wondered how far this form would take him, considering he had left most of himself back in the mud puddle. I remembered he had said that he was able to go quite a distance away from the main part of himself—but how far exactly?
We passed many strange looking females of all different exotic species, some humanoid and some not even recognizable as living beings—at least to me. It really was a zoo and I felt sorry for all the exhibits, even the ones that looked like rocks or plants or—in one case—a cross between a dolphin and a Doberman.
At last we came to a case made to look like a sitting room. There was a fireplace with blue flames dancing in the grate, a large, comfortable looking red chair with a high back and scrolled arms, and a flowered carpet on the floor. Interesting and expensive art work hung on the walls and a low table with five curved legs was set to one side of the chair.
A plate on the table was heaped with what looked like tasty little cakes in every color of the rainbow and there was a triangular cup with steam rising from it. Was it some kind of tea? I didn’t know—my eyes were drawn away from the surroundings when I saw a movement in the center of the chair.
Someone was sitting in it—a slender girl was huddled in one corner with her back to us. Her dress was almost the same deep, velvety red of the chair which was why I hadn’t seen her right away. I couldn’t see her face because she had it buried in her hands. As I watched, her slight shoulders shook and I realized she must be crying.
Poor little thing! My heart went out to her—how homesick and scared she must be in this big, awful, weird place! Tazaxx was a monster for keeping her locked up like this.
Behind me I heard Grav breathe, “Teeny,” in a low voice not much more than a growl. I glanced back at him and saw that he was holding himself back with an iron will. Every muscle in his big body was bunched with tension and his huge hands were curled into fists. A vein throbbed in his temple, just to the side of one of his curving, black horns and a muscle jumped in his jaw. I thought he looked like he might rush forward and break the glass of the little prisoner’s display case at any minute. But somehow, he managed not to.
“She looks all right,” Sarden remarked. “But it’s difficult to see her.”
“Here…you. Come forward.” Tazaxx tapped sharply on the glass.
The girl in the chair jumped, her thin shoulders twitching with the motion. Slowly she stood and turned to face us. She had pale, almost translucent skin in the most delicate shade of sage green imaginable and a cable of thick, black hair.
I could see by her tear-streaked cheeks that I was right—she had indeed been crying. Her eyes were a gorgeous shade of violet, red rimmed now, from weeping. With her delicate coloring and jewel-like eyes, I thought she looked like a little elf or fairy.
“Come here!” Tazaxx ordered her, tapping the glass again.
Slowly, uncertainly, the girl walked forward. It wasn’t until she was right up against the glass that she really saw us—or should I say, that she saw Grav.
Her violet eyes went wide as she looked at him and I saw hope fill her thin face and flush her pale cheeks. Her mouth started to form his name but I saw him give her a short, sharp shake of his head.
Biting her lip, the girl looked down, her thin fingers twisting in the skirts of the red dress she wore.
“Hmm…” Sarden nodded. “Yes, I like her,” he said, turning to Tazaxx. “She’s young enough to train and she’ll be quite lovely when she’s grown in a few years. What’s your asking price?”
“One hundred thousand credits,” Tazaxx said, without blinking an eye.
“What?” Sarden frowned. “I thought I might get a better deal here than at the auction. It’s ridiculous to ask so much for an ungrown girl with no particular rarity or skill set.”
“But she is rare—not her species, per say—she’s only a common Thonilan. But there are other forms of rarity, my dear Baron Van’Dleek,” Tazaxx assured him. “This little female is the last living heir to the House of Yanux—one of the ruling families of her people. As a result, she is very rare indeed.”
“Hmm…I do like having girls with good pedigrees in my entourage,” Sarden said, sounding for all the world as though he was talking about some kind of purebred animal like a racehorse instead of a sentient being. “Do you have any more like that? Any more royalty? Perhaps we can make a deal if so.”
“Alas…” Tazaxx made a face. “I did have a very fine Eloim female in my collection until very recently.”
“You did have?” I heard the slightly strangled sound in Sarden’s voice but to his credit, he managed to keep his features blank and only mildly interested. “What happened to her? Did you sell her?”
“Unfortunately, no. She had the Crimson Death. I didn’t know it when she first came to me—it’s lucky I keep my treasures isolated or it might have spread to all of them.”
“The…Crimson Death?” Sarden’s voice sounded harsh and his cool, indifferent manner was slipping somewhat. “So she’s too ill to see—is that what you’re saying?”
“Oh, no—you may see her if you like. Come.”
Tazaxx led the way down the darkened hallway. Sarden’s broad shoulders were tense and his gait was wooden but somehow he kept going. I wanted to slip my hand into his and comfort him the same way he had comforted me when I told him about Angie, but I didn’t know how he would take it.
We walked past a few more lighted windows and then we came to one that was dark.
“Lights!” Tazaxx called, raising his voice and tapping on the glass.
At once, the lights came up in the case, revealing a bare room with a single raised platform in the center. On the platform lay a girl—or what used to be a girl.
Her body was bent in a position of agony—the back arched as though she had died trying to get a last breath. Her long, silky black hair was matted and dull and her golden cat
’s eyes, so much like Sarden’s, were open but empty. Glazed and lifeless, they stared at us and I noticed rivulets of dried blood had leaked from their corners. Her full lips were painted red too, and gore ran down her chin.
Clearly she had died in agony.
“Gods,” Sarden whispered hoarsely. “Oh Gods.”
“Yes, it is rather disturbing, isn’t it?” Tazaxx didn’t sound disturbed by the gruesome sight at all. If anything, I thought he sounded bored. “I’ve had to leave her here, unfortunately. It would be quite dangerous to unseal the room at this point. We need to give it a full sixty solar days before we break the seal and spray in the anti-viral agents.”
“She…she…” Sarden clearly couldn’t finish.
I slipped my hand into his, not caring if he wanted me to or not—I had to comfort him, to help ease the numbing pain I saw on his face. A pain I swore I could almost feel in my own heart.
“She’s been gone for about a week, I believe,” Tazaxx said. “We did the best we could for her but after a certain point, nothing but intervention by the Goddess of Mercy herself would have been enough to save her.”
“What…what are you going to do with the…with her body?” I could feel Sarden’s big frame trembling, yet still he was trying to keep from showing his pain. I understood why—we had to keep the pretense up at least a little while longer if we were going to rescue Teeny.
Tazaxx shrugged his mud shoulders stiffly, as though he wasn’t used to making the gesture and was only copying what he had seen others do.
“Burn it, most likely. It’s the only safe method of disposal when dealing with the Crimson Death.”
“Her ashes…” Sarden made a choking noise. “I need them.”
“What?” Tazaxx frowned. “Whatever for?”
“A gift to the Eloim government,” I said quickly, improvising. “My, uh, Master is entering into trade agreements with them. If he could give them…give them her ashes, it might be taken as a sign of, uh, goodwill.”