Chapter Three – Vanessa
Her breath caught in her throat when the door opened. Vanessa tried to quell the heat that swirled in her belly at the sight of the tall T'shav as he brought in a plate of food. She didn't know why she couldn’t get enough of the sight of him.
Ever since he had pinned her to the mattress with his body, she'd been wanting him to do it again. She knew that she shouldn’t, and reminded herself of how frightening the experience actually had been, but nothing seemed to help.
Taliga held the food out to her. "We will be arriving at our destination in a few hours. You had better eat."
"What do you care?"
Vanessa twisted her hands. They were still tender from the hours she had spent banging them against the door, but a few rounds with the ancient regenerator the T'shav had on board had reduced the bruising and swelling to a minimum. Not that she was going to thank them for that. They weren't doing it from the kindness of their hearts. It was only because they were protecting their merchandise. The same with Taliga's insistence that she eat.
"Do you really think starving yourself is going to help you at all?"
"Oh, yes. I think that it's going to make me thin and so beautiful that you won't be able to bring yourself to selling me to your mysterious third party." She couldn't help but be sarcastic.
Taliga's brow creased as he set the food down. "How would being thinner make you more beautiful than you already are?"
If he wasn't a kidnapping mercenary, that might have actually been romantic. Vanessa turned her face away, clenching her jaw. The T'shav stared at her a moment longer. He opened his mouth, then shook his head and left her alone in her cell.
The food smelled and looked mediocre at best, but Vanessa's stomach growled, so she ate it. As she did so, she hiked up her long skirt and pulled the small silver cross she had hidden in her garter. It was the last thing she had from Earth, a gift from her mother when she was eighteen (despite the fact that Vanessa had stopped going to church and had no intention of returning). Wearing it during the dawning rites had been strictly forbidden, as were any religious items not directly related to the rites, but Vanessa always kept it with her.
If her mother were here now… Well, she would have words for her daughter about the feelings she had been having of late.
Despite the fact that he kidnapped her, Vanessa's heart lurched a little every time she saw Taliga. She knew it wasn't right. Maybe even a little Stockholm syndrome-y, although maybe it was a little too soon for that. Whatever the reason, she couldn’t help herself. Whenever she was around him, her heart would hammer, her breath would quicken, and she'd have a spinning sensation in her head and a tightening between her legs.
And that wasn’t the worst of it. When he was gone and she found herself alone, her thoughts were inevitably drawn to him. He was a gorgeous specimen. A terrible criminal – a kidnapper – but oh-so gorgeous. More than once, she woke with her heart racing from dreams where he was laying over her, gently undressing her.
In any other situation, she would have had a much harder time not finding a way to make it come true.
The image came into Vanessa's mind again of Taliga's mouth on various parts of her body. Her core tightened. And guilt rose in her chest. She had always been taught that sex was something sacred that should only happen between married partners. It didn't matter if she had rejected most tenets of the faith she was raised in – that one stayed. It was wrong to have these lustful thoughts about a man she had no intention of being with, especially about an alien who had kidnapped her!
"It must be because he's in musth," she whispered. "It's his pheromones playing with my head."
But was musth really that specific? Yes, she was having desires for Taliga, but the other T'shav left her cold. The sneers, the open ogling. He made her skin crawl. He was the one that had mentioned being in musth. So, shouldn't she be drawn to him, or at least both of them? If only she knew more about musth…
Vanessa slid the necklace over her head, tucking the cross into her cleavage. Now was not the time for feeling lust or guilt over her lust. It was a natural bodily function – no need to feel guilt for it, but it was distracting her from the real problem she faced.
Getting away from these two before they sold her to their mysterious buyer was the real problem. Because anybody who would hire a couple of mercenaries to kidnap her certainly would not have her best interests at heart. Maybe they were going to ransom her, but chances were they had a much darker purpose.
So, how could she convince them to release her?
***
The planet they landed on was a dark, cold place. Its orbit was synchronized with a larger one closer to the sun, casting it in near-permanent shadow. The grass that grew there was tall and spindly, so pale that it looked skeletal. It spread out in every direction. The ship's landing propulsions had flattened the flora in a large circle around them, but beyond that, it was just tall enough to be past Taliga's head.
Vanessa fought to stay calm as Taliga pulled her out of the ship. She had no plan to get away, but she knew she had to act.
"The restraints are too tight," she said, holding up her wrists. They were bound together by circles of blue energy, projected by small silver clasps stuck to the back of her hand.
"No, they're not," Taliga said, not looking at her as he pulled her along. He glanced around. "Looks like our buyer is just arriving."
Vanessa saw the bright lights of a second ship just through the pale grass. Her stomach cramped. This was her only chance. If she could get into the flora, then perhaps they would lose her. Her white dress would blend in, if nothing else.
She yanked her arm away from Taliga and dashed towards the tall grasses. She managed five feet before both T'shav were on her again. Kulog grabbed her first, arms circling her chest. Taliga tore her away from the other T'shav and threw her over his shoulder.
"I could handle her," Kulog growled.
"And I'd rather not waste time while you threaten her," Taliga growled back.
Vanessa kicked her feet. "Let me go!"
He ignored her, as expected. They headed towards the other ship. Vanessa fought the best she could, but there was no freeing herself from the strong T'shav. When he finally put her down, he spun her to face his buyers. Vanessa froze as fear flooded her.
Half a dozen men stood in a semi-circle around the gangplank. Light spilled out from their ship, casting their faces into shadow. But the light blue robes with golden trim matched with collars of purple and black told her enough. They were priests from the Wytsian Order. Their creed was that the influx of humans found in the stasis chambers weren't 'real' humans and they needed to be wiped out.
Taliga was selling her to be slaughtered.
"Our human. At last," one of them, a blue-skinned Aphrosian said, greedy golden eyes locked on her.
"Untouched, without a bruise on her," Taliga said. His hand was clamped hard on her shoulder.
Vanessa glanced at him. While he may not have shown kindness to her on their way there, he hadn't been cruel, either. His desire for her had been obvious as well, terrifying her as much as it drew her in. But he hadn't acted on it, had even protected her from Kulog. She hadn't expected this. Out of everybody he could have stolen her for, why did they have to be people who would kill her?
"Payment, as promised," the priest said, waving his hand. One of his fellows stepped forward with a box.
"Please." Vanessa turned to Taliga. She grabbed his hand, but he pulled it away. "Please, don't give me to them. You know they'll kill me. Please. Please! I haven't done anything wrong."
Kulog yawned. "So? We're not in the business of taking in strays, you know. We spent good money getting you, and now we're getting a profit off of you. It's just business."
Vanessa reached for Taliga's hand again. Fear was so thick in her chest she thought she might choke on it. Her whole body trembled as the priest came forward with the payment. If she couldn’t reach this T'shav somehow… she was finished. There would be no getting away from the Wytsian Order.
"Please," she begged again. "I'll do anything you ask of me. I'll be your slave for when you go through musth if that's what you want me to do. Please."
Finally, she had a reaction from him. The cold expression on his face faltered and he shook his head.
"I don't want a slave for such purposes," he said quietly.
"You know they're going to kill me. Don't you have a heart?"
He turned her away from him and pushed her towards the priests. "What will you do with her now?"
Oh, so he cared, did he? Vanessa wished she had a knife. If she did, she'd stab him in the heart he didn't have. Her lip trembled. Why? Why did this have to happen? To feel drawn to him only to have this happen? As if it wasn't already enough of a betrayal for her body to long to be twined with his.
"We'll take her back to the place where humans first roamed and preform a sacrifice to appease the angered spirits of our ancestors that such a creature was allowed to live."
"I'm human," Vanessa cried. She tried to shy away from the priest as he handed the box to Kulog, but Taliga's hand was firm on her shoulder, stopping her from moving in any direction. "Please, I'm human. I was born in 1989 in Toronto, Canada, Earth. My parents were—"
The priest cut her off with a terrible glare. "You are an imposter."
"How will you kill her?" Taliga's voice was flat. "Quickly?"
"What does it matter?" Kulog gave him a disgusted look. "We've brought our payment. Just give them the woman and we can be on our way. If it's so hard for you, just imagine that she's Edala."
Taliga grunted. His grip on her shoulder tightened.
"Come on." Kulog rolled his eyes. "You know as well as anybody that women can't be trusted. I bet she's led on dozens of men, then turned around and accused them of horrible things. Getting sacrificed is no more than she deserves."
"How will you kill her?" Taliga repeated.
The priest didn't move his eyes from Vanessa's face. "We'll cut her heart out and feed it to the Earth."
Vanessa cried out in horror. Behind her, Taliga tensed.