by Seth Eden
They became confused.
They had been honed on their own planet. Desert and ice mountain fighting left them toned and hard. The oxygen levels were thinner there and on Earth the thicker atmosphere acted like a drug, making them stronger than ever, faster and a little doped.
The Vampyren didn't fight amongst themselves. Disagreements between provenances were settled by the Games and the losers forfeited their females, their children and then their lives.
Honor was the fight.
For humans, they scrabbled to stay alive, they protected each other or gave each other up or they acted smart or stupid or cowardly. They almost never did the same thing as anyone else.
He found them aggravating and exhausting.
Now as the entire condo full of men began to riot, he shouted orders to his aide and to his soldiers and when nothing came of it, he grabbed one of the men, one of the largest, and forced him over to the terrace and off it.
The man dangled at the end of Alek's arm. "Hold them," he snarled about the other humans.
His men stopped the struggle and subdued the men. Within seconds one human male was dead. But only one.
"That was a waste," Andros said as they zip-tied the prisoners together.
Andros didn't have seniority over Alek. He stopped and stared at the man, then leaned forward and sniffed at his breath. "Have you eaten?"
Andros didn't respond. He turned away and started to assist one of the other soldiers in tying the prisoners together.
Roughly, Alek spun him back around. "Answer me." All of Earth was swimming with humans who could be bled as food. With as few troops as they'd brought to colonize the planet, it would be an extremely long time before they had to ration the humans or make max consumption laws.
"Let go of me." Andros's voice was low and angry.
In a flash, Alek drove him backward and pinned him against the wall, a forearm locked over his throat.
"Never forget I'm your commanding officer. Never refuse to eat. Never question me."
Andros brought his eyes up, staring belligerently for close to half a minute.
Then he dropped his gaze. His entire body slumped, to the extent a Vampyren would ever let himself slump. "I'm hungry." It came out sullen and unwilling.
"Then eat." He shoved the other man away and stood breathing hard, running one hand through his hair. As it fell back over his forehead, he saw where Andros was heading and snapped, "Not them."
Too fast. Andros had been heading for Mindy and Candy and Alek had called him off too fast. Pan had turned to watch the exchange, his eyes sharp and judging.
"The women are going to the harem. Or breeding. Don't take a chance with them." He gestured. "One of them."
Andros's eyes were dark with anger again, but he nodded, curt and efficient, and snapped the ties on one last man's wrists, dragging him away from his fellows. The man had struggled, kicking and throwing ineffectual punches as he was tied into the line of men. He'd been next in line to the man Alek had dangled and dropped from the terrace. Now the man struggled and fought to stay where he was, his voice escalating in terror as he babbled promises and plans and ways he could turn traitor on the humans and be of such use to the Vampyren.
Before he'd gotten him halfway across the condo Andros backhanded the man, leaving him semiconscious. Dragging him up and throwing him over one tattooed shoulder, Andros carried the man to the terrace, propped him against the railing there eighteen stories above ground level, and tore his throat open with his fangs.
The man would still be alive when Andros either finished and dropped him, or offered up the remains to anyone who needed a boost.
Fine. Alek turned back to the task at hand. Chaos had been tamed. The men were mostly subdued.
Time to move the lot of them to Caesar's Palace.
5
They loaded the men and women separately, as if the invaders feared the businessmen who had spent three months belittling the women would turn to them for help, the two sides working together to overthrow their captors.
Maybe the Vamps couldn't tell what the last three months had been like, but Mindy knew about their women. Fierce, warlike, all-conquering types.
Why would beings whose women were so fearless and deadly expect human women to be different that she and Candy wouldn't be any threat on their own? And how could they look at the way the women were dressed and not understand what had been going on?
But their captives were human. So maybe the vamps had figured it out right. Because if she got a chance to free the men from the condo, she figured she'd do it.
Currently it looked unlikely. The Vampyren came to Earth with ships that could cross interstellar distances and then didn't have to because they'd mastered wormhole tech. Flip between worlds. None of that curiously boring transport between far flung stars for the invaders.
Somehow that added up to the Vampyren on Earth using whatever vehicles they got their hands on. Which was whatever they liked. There had been reports from rogue television news states and the beginning, before it was determined that letting humans have their news reports back kept them both in line and depressed. The reports said tanks had shown up in strange places and were used for the most commonplace reasons because even Vampyren had to do various routine tasks. They'd also commandeered helicopters and massive numbers of motorcycles, but they steered as clear of passenger jets as Mindy herself did.
For the trip from the condo to Caesars, they piled their prisoners into the backs of U-Hauls.
"We have to get out of here," Candy said. She'd made her way over to Mindy where she was slumped against a wheel well, slid down the wall and put her back to Mindy's, starting to scrabble at the zip ties.
Mindy hadn't found a lot of reasons to laugh in recent months, but now she did. "Do you have the slightest idea what you're doing?"
"None," Candy said without breaking stride.
Mindy turned her bemused expression on Taylor and Sarah, only to find they were doing the exact same thing.
For just a second it seemed like the plastic strips on her wrists were getting tighter, threatening to cut off her circulation, and then Candy said, "No," rather sharply to herself and reversed whatever she was doing and suddenly Mindy had the use of her hands back again. At the same time, Taylor suddenly jerked her hands around to the front of her body, staring at them as if surprised.
Instantly Candy and Sarah turned their backs on Mindy and Taylor.
"See if you can get the door open," Taylor said, standing in the swaying van. Sarah had already moved to the rolling door at the end of the van and Mindy went with her.
"Shouldn't there be some kind of failsafe or panic bar or something?" Taylor asked and Sarah, behind her, said, "I know what you really mean, but a panic bar sounds like a great solution right now."
Mindy lost herself for a second, thinking Margarita with more longing than made sense. She wanted all her senses functioning right now.
Which was when the vans stopped.
The four of them looked at each other. "Weapons?" Candy asked and they scattered to the four corners of the van, searching for tire irons or Jack stands or hammer, wrenches, crowbars, anything that might be found in a moving van.
They found tape. A couple folded up boxes. A sweater someone had lost. Dust. One box cutter.
"Shit," Mindy said in unison with Taylor.
And the back of the van opened.
They rushed their captors. Smashed into them with all their body weight and their freed limbs. Sarah actually made the vampyren she ran into rock back on his feet. Right before he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her over his head, staring up at her like she was something he wanted to throw.
"Put her down." That was Pan. "You heard him."
The invader holding Sarah glared at the other Vampyren for long enough that Mindy felt her heart begin to jackrabbit in her chest, the dark spots of blackout closing in.
Then with a glower he lowered her back down, only dropping her the la
st few inches. His glare took in all four of them. "Run, and I will personally hunt you down and kill you."
The invaders held weapons but the size and strength of the vampires themselves was the biggest deterrent. They were fast, strong and deadly.
And they enjoyed making their kills.
The harem was confined to midlevel floors of the hotel. They had views of the city but no windows that would open. They had the run of the floors, but no way off them – the doors that led to stairways were chained shut and the elevators locked down.
Candy started to shake once they were locked onto the floor and Mindy put an arm around her, walking her back to the suite the four of them would be sharing.
A handful of girls joined them, Asian, African American and a pale white girl with a southern accent, who was the one who started talking.
"We try to give everybody time to adjust," Shauna said, leaving the door to the hallway open but following Mindy and Candy in. "Just thought you guys needed a welcome wagon.
Across the room Sarah was pacing angrily in a kitchen equipped with no sharp knives or forks, no glass mugs or water glasses, nothing that could be used to hurt men twice her size.
Taylor had slumped onto a couch near the window.
Candy, though, had started to hyperventilate. Shauna, the girl from Georgia, put an arm around her, carefully nodding to Mindy. "Come with," she said. "And don't tell." She led them a circuitous route to the end of one hallway.
Mindy was about to protest because it was a narrow hall for such a luxurious hotel and it was going to make it worse for Candy. But then she felt the Nevada wind coming in and met Shauna's eyes fast.
Shauna smiled. "A few of the windows open. this one's above a drop-off on the roof and there are nets under the windows. Not attractive, but when everything started going bad at first the owners put nets around the building because there were people jumping." She shook her head, as if bemused. "They didn't even wait to see how things were going to pan out. I mean, does anyone think it's all over for the human race?"
None of them answered her, so she just shook her head and said. "Anyway, the result was they put nets out to catch people so it's okay for the windows to open, though nobody knows this one is."
Candy had pulled away from her, not even sounding like she was listening to the other two. She braced her arms on the windowsill and leaned her head out. After a couple minutes her choppy too fast breathing eased.
"Thanks," Mindy said, and introduced herself.
Shauna introduced Gina and Jennifer. "We'll give you guys time to get acclimated and then give you a tour of the floor. And a rundown of what's expected."
Mindy felt her muscles go rigid, but it was Candy who turned and said, "Don't bother. We're not going to – "
Shauna moved fast, putting one hand over her mouth and darting her eyes around the hallway. "Far as we know, nobody is listening to us. Vamps don't think a lot about girls. But maybe you need to consider what you want to have overheard. Just in case."
The tension in Candy's muscles drained slowly. She leaned away from Shauna's now unnecessary hand and into Mindy.
"Thanks," she said again. "I don't know about anyone else but I'm not up for a tour right now. My only question is what's the life expectancy here?"
Shauna raised one brow. "Good question. Don't have an answer. It's whatever they decide. This is harem. They're not going to kill you flat out unless something fucks with their view of things. Try to run. Try to fight. Hurt one of them."
"Has anyone?" Mindy asked.
It was Jennifer who answered, laughing as she ran her hands through her 'fro. "Urban legend time, girls. Listen to me."
6
He couldn't sleep.
Some nights were like that. They were so close to the desert in this place but trapped in the urban landscape of the metropolitan city. His heart longed for the vast open distances of his own planet.
There was no question at home. Royalty, however minor, however many absurd steps from the throne, served in the military. He'd gone in with Pan, the two of them only a year apart, but once in, Pan changed. His anger was quicker, his temper fraying daily, and his size increased with the training he adapted to.
It was just bad luck that Earth came to the attention of one of the exploratory fleets before either of them ended their tour of duty.
There was nothing simple about Vampyren military. The commanders were stone killers. The enlisted were disposable. Those who went in as commanders like Pan and Alek were hated by those who couldn't. And always it was the training against the day the Lucian would return to the Vampyren home world.
The Lucian were savages little more than animals and planet killers to boot. They overpopulated their own home worlds and then went in search of others to conquer. When they could, they simply followed the explorers of other worlds, taking their prizes.
They would eventually make their way to Earth if they hadn't already, following in the footsteps of the Vampyren. They had the technology, some of it better than Vampyren tech, but they chose to follow rather than lead. They'd wait, and make sure they could conquer the race on the planets where the Vampyren were simply trying their luck. There were some rumors they were already there on Earth but Alek thought that was wrong. If the Lucian were on Earth, there'd already be humans dying.
Savages, he thought again, shifting in the bed so the sheet would stop rubbing against his cock. He was naked and hard, and the girl from the condo kept flashing back into his mind, the one with the long dark hair and the nearly Vampyren cheekbones. The one with a mouth he wanted to do things to. Kiss. Hit. Thrust his cock into. He didn't know.
He couldn't sleep.
When the Lucian came, the fight would rage. When the Lucian came, there was a chance that both the secondary invaders and the humans would understand that the number of Vampyren on the planet was much lower than said the claims they had made as they overtook the governments on this world.
Dangerously low.
So by the time that happened, they had to have increased their numbers, to have forced into service men like they'd taken today. Men whose families they could hold to force those men into compliance. Men who would increase the numbers of Vampyren soldiers.
He shifted restlessly and the sheet caressed him again.
He stood fast. Vampyren did not self satisfy. He knew where she was. He had no reason not to go and take her. Just because he had admired her spirit was no reason not to have her.
It was all the more reason to break that spirit and take her as his.
Alek shoved himself out of the bed and padded naked to the door of his suite. There was no reason to dress for his journey through the halls. The hotel was wholly Vampyren held and safe enough and his physique was perfect, an object of honor among his kind. They wore clothes for protection from a sun they were unaccustomed to and to protect themselves in battle and because once outside it was more comfortable. But they didn't have shame in their bodies.
His erection led the way. Every step that led him closer to her he seemed to grow harder. Guards at their posts nodded to him, or greeted him by his rank. Alek responded in kind.
At the door to the harem he stopped. They weren't assigned quarters but he knew where the new girls had been left. Humans tended to stay places they felt safe and to feel safe in places where nothing had happened to them yet.
If he didn't find her in the first room, he'd send someone to go looking.
Stepping into the suite, he began to raise his body temperature. When Vampyren males were aroused, they gave off a hormonal signature. For females of their own race, it was a siren call that was hard to ignore. Depending on the female's cycle, it could signal breeding and endanger the male, or cause her to want nothing more than the unbridled passion the male was offering.
For human women, the effect was something like narcotics mixed with amphetamines mixed with aphrodisiacs that didn't actually exist. Human females exposed to Vampyren males in their rampant state wer
e overcome by lust.
He didn't think she'd hit him with a lamp this time.
The suite smelled of sleep. The soft sound of breathing came from the rooms. He assumed the girl he was looking for – Mindy, she'd said, he thought – would be with her friend. Humans seemed to mistakenly believe there was safety in numbers.
If he found them together, he could take them together. They'd be powerless to resist him. No Vampyren soldier would turn down such bounty, but he felt a small resistance to the idea.
He wanted Mindy by herself. The thought made him hesitate for just a second before he continued into the suite.
Well? Why shouldn't he want her alone? More time to concentrate on the things he wanted to do. He was a prince, however far removed from the throne, and he was a general, with men at his command. He could have whatever he wanted.
He strode into the first room and found two girls sleeping in the bed, but neither the one he was looking for. They'd doubled up in here, even though he'd left only Mindy and Candy there.
He'd probably have them punished for that. There had to be controls, even in the strangeness of the harem.
Into the other room, then and he knew he'd found her before he saw her. In the thin light of the city coming in the un-curtained windows he saw her dark hair fanned out across the pillow, her lips parted in sleep, her long lashes brushing her cheekbones.
Next to her in the bed, her back turned, the sheets clutched against her chest, was the blond girl, the one called Candy. She snored lightly, her eyes tightly closed as if she forced herself to stay asleep.
Humans sometimes believed they were safer when asleep. There was no safe anymore, not for them.
He moved soundlessly to the bed, bent, and put one hand over Mindy's mouth even as he coiled a length of her hair around his other fist.
