by Cara Wylde
“Did Poppy give you the impression we had the same effect on her?”
Alex simply sighed in response, but Meadow wasn’t that sensible.
“Err… she gave the impression she was a stone statue that totally owned you.”
Avery smiled. She liked Meadow. No, wait. She didn’t. Meadow was an alien. She couldn’t like her. In another life, they could have been friends, though.
“We still haven’t found out why only us, Kralians, have this issue with the humans,” Kit ignored her. “While the others in the Alliance have already began mating with them, we’re here, trying to solve this ridiculous mystery.”
The aliens began mating with humans?! Wait, what?! Only five minutes of eavesdropping, and her mind was already buzzing with questions.
“We can’t even touch them!”
“We can,” Alex said calmly. “We just have to find a way to…”
“… fight their psychic abilities?”
“They’re not psychics, not quite.”
“Emotional abilities, then?”
“I… I don’t know. Might be more accurate.”
Kit stood up and started pacing the floor.
Avery could tell he was angry. She involuntarily shrunk farther in her corner.
“Look, all I know is that we’re not getting anywhere.”
“Of course we are!” Meadow chirped. “We’re doing much more than the others, and we’re more involved. The Kralians have the upper hand on Terra.”
“No, we don’t. We’re gaining ground, yes, but not for us. Not as long as we can’t interact and touch humans without… without… Ugh!” He ran his fingers through his short black hair, and plopped himself back into the leather chair.
Heavy silence fell between them. Eventually, Meadow sighed, shrugged, and concluded:
“You know what? We’re going in circles and wasting time I could use for writing. I’m heading home.”
“We have a meeting later,” Alex grumbled. “You could at least wish us luck.”
“Good luck, then! I’m out.”
“We need all the luck we can get,” Kit mused as he watched Meadow leave the room. “I honestly don’t know what to tell the other captains.”
Alex threw the book on the coffee table and sat down in the leather covered armchair. He thought long and hard before offering his opinion.
Avery waited with baited breath. Now that Meadow was gone, she felt like the brothers might reveal more useful information. The curvy woman was too passionate about joking and bantering to be of any use to her. For the time being.
“Kryan, have you ever wondered…”
“What, Aedar?”
Avery blinked in confusion. Were those their real names? This was a breakthrough!
“Why is the rest of the Alliance so interested in an issue only Kralians have? The Cattalians, the Valgans, the Norgavians, and even the Minarians… they’re not affected by Terrans the way we are. Our people should be the ones dying with worry. Yet, the others are much more vocal about it than them.”
Kit, or rather… Kryan… huffed sarcastically.
“Maybe they care that much about us?”
Aedar laughed bitterly. “Yeah, right.”
“Either way, this meeting is happening, and we can’t avoid it. Better to get it over with.” He stood up and started removing his tie.
“But we have nothing new to report. We’ve hit a dead end.”
“Then, we’d better sugarcoat the hell out of this dead end. You’re the writer. Come up with something.”
Aedar shook his head and proceeded to remove his clothes, one by one. Mirroring him, Kryan did the same. They moved swiftly, as if on auto-pilot.
Avery took in a sharp breath and held it. It was the only way she could stop herself from squealing. Of course, closing her eyes or looking away were two solid options, but she found herself too mesmerized by the strangeness of what was happening just a few steps away from where she was standing. Two men… two very ripped, very hot men… were undressing in silence, paying no mind to each other. Avery’s eyes went even wider with shock when she noticed they wore thin, leather bracelets around both their wrists. The black bands had been well hidden underneath the long sleeves of their shirts and suit jackets.
Kryan took off his bracelets with a sigh.
“These little bastards are killing me.”
He held his hands up to inspect the circles of red marks around his wrists, and Avery covered her mouth with both hands when she realized the tiny punctures resembled the punctures she got on her neck when she activated and used the invisibility collar. Their bracelets appeared to work on the same principle, except their purpose was to make Kryan and Aedar look like humans. The second Kryan had taken his bracelets off, his skin had started turning an interesting shade of purple.
Aedar threw his own leather bands on the nearest table, complaining about them significantly less than his brother. Then, he went straight for the set of drawers that so happened to be next to Avery’s hiding place.
When she saw the tall, bulky, purple, and very naked man come her way, Avery almost moaned in pain. She had never been so stressed and panicked in her whole life, and she had worked plenty of dangerous cases before. But this one was straight-up crazy! She took a step to the right to allow Aedar enough space to rummage through the drawers. She couldn’t find the power to tiptoe around him and move to the other, less crowded side of the library. All she could do was focus on her breathing. Her heart pumped blood and adrenaline like mad, and her lungs seemed set on making her pant.
“Focus, focus, focus,” she chanted in her head. “You got this, Avery. You got this.”
Aedar took out two sets of clothes and threw one at Kryan. They put them on in a hurry, causing Avery to nearly gasp again when she realized they were warrior outfits. Warrior outfits that barely covered their impressive muscles…
They reminded Avery of the Spartan warriors she saw in historical movies and TV shows, and how they launched into battle seemingly unaware that so much of their arms, sides, and calves were exposed to enemy arrows and spears. Well, if she thought about it, she didn’t mind the view. The two purple alien warriors standing before her certainly were every woman’s dream. Human woman, or alien woman. The odd, purple shade of their skin was too small of an inconvenience. Not enough to ruin her fun. She was so entranced by the free show Kryan and Aedar were putting on for her as they fumbled with belts and buckles, that she almost missed it when Aedar pressed a hidden button behind a bookshelf and set the whole wall behind her in motion.
She jumped in surprise and turned around. The back of her legs hit another armchair, and she fought to keep her balance and not fall over, with her legs in the air. She grabbed onto the backrest for dear life, and managed to regain her footing just as Kryan and Aedar were stepping through a large ring of white light.
“That looks like a… Oh my God! It’s a stargate! They have an actual stargate hidden behind a fake wall!”
There was no time to over-think it. They were already disappearing to the other side, whatever that other side was. She dashed after them, bracing herself for the impact. But the impact never came. Going through the ring of white light felt like diving into the calm waters of the sea and gently coming back up to enjoy the warm rays of the sun.
Avery opened her eyes. She wasn’t in the library anymore. The Walsh residence was somewhere far, far away. She looked around her, and the first thing that stood out was the round table in the middle of what seemed to be a large conference room. Three men and one woman were sitting at the table. Two empty seats were obviously waiting for Kryan and Aedar.
“Different alien species,” Avery thought. There was so much information to take in. She had to do her best. She simply hoped the stress and adrenaline wouldn’t mess with her memory. “Five.”
They all had different skin colors. There was a man with light blue skin, blue eyes, and blond hair, and then there
was another man with dark green skin, black eyes, and silver hair. They both looked fascinating. Almost majestic. The third man had black skin, green eyes, and striking red hair. The combination almost made Avery’s eyes hurt. And the woman… the woman looked like an ancient goddess. Ivory skin, faded blue eyes, and long, purple hair with blue and pink strands… It was obviously dyed.
“Captain Kryan, Captain Aedar,” the black-skinned alien greeted them.
Kryan and Aedar simply nodded, and slowly walked toward the empty seats waiting for them.
Avery followed them closely, while quickly scanning the rest of the room. When she saw planet Earth through one of the windows, she froze into place. For a few seconds, she tuned out everything around her. The aliens at the round table, the small pleasantries they exchanged with Kryan and Aedar before the meeting began… None of that registered. She was not on Earth anymore. Earth was so far away that she could see almost the entire shape of North America. And it was mind-blowing! Mind-blowing and scary. She was on a spaceship.
Slowly, she came back to her senses. Voices were rising from around the table, and they were all asking one question:
“Who is she?”
Okay, and another burning question:
“What is she doing here?”
Avery stared at them in bewilderment, and they all stared back at her.
“No, this can’t be,” she thought. She looked at her own hands and gasped loudly. It didn’t matter. The pained sound she’d just made wasn’t what gave her away. Her very naked body that was now perfectly visible had already done the trick. Dread rose in her chest when she felt the small needles in her collar retract. The damn thing was malfunctioning. The needles stabbed her again, then retracted without improving the situation in any way. Her mind went blank. But no, she couldn’t give up just yet. Not when her peripheral vision caught alien guards moving toward her, ready to seize her and probably throw her in a cage somewhere. No, it was out of the question. She couldn’t give up. She wouldn’t.
“Kryan, who is she?” the ivory-skinned woman insisted when they didn’t respond.
It was then that Avery did the unthinkable. She had no option but to go with the first idea that came to her terrified mind:
“I’m Master Kryan’s and Master Aedar’s slave.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Silence. Kryan and Aedar stared at Avery as if she were a ghost. Well, she could see how that worked in the context. She had materialized out of thin air, after all. As their silvery eyes studied her from head to toe, she did her best to keep her back straight, but her chin down. She was a decent enough actress to slip into the new role she’d created for herself and behave like a proper slave.
“Finally! A human pleasure slave of your own!” The ivory-skinned lady sounded beyond delighted. “What’s your name, slave?”
Avery’s heart jumped in her throat, and she swallowed hard before speaking in a small, timid voice:
“Poppy? Poppy Tonks.”
“What a silly name,” the blue-skinned alien huffed.
Avery threw him an annoyed glare, but lowered her eyes before he caught it. She was sure Kryan and Aedar noticed it, though. Were they going to play along? She couldn’t believe her fate was in their hands.
“Does this mean you’ve figured out why Kralians have this strange… allergy to humans?”
Earlier, Kryan had insisted it wasn’t an allergy, but now the scary, black-skinned alien called it just that. If she ever got out of this alive, Avery would have one hell of a story for the SPG. Wait. There was no way the purple aliens would ever let her out of their sight even if they played along and saved her life.
Aedar cleared his throat. “Not yet, but we’re working on it. We’ve made some positive breakthroughs. Poppy here is helping us tremendously.”
Avery let out a barely perceptible sigh of relief. They were going alone with her plan. Okay, it wasn’t much of a plan, but it was still better than nothing.
“What’s that around her neck?” The ivory-skinned woman stood up and rounded the table. “An invisibility collar?” She pointed her long, thin finger at Avery. “Guards, bring it to me.”
“Shit,” Avery thought. “They got me now…” She stood still as one of the guards removed the leather collar, trying her hardest not to shrink away. She’d always felt good in her own body. Last year, she even accepted to shoot a scene where she emerged from a pool without a bra, only in a tiny thong. But standing naked in the middle of a room filled with aliens was way out there. She couldn’t possibly compare the two experiences.
“Why is she wearing an invisibility collar?” the alien woman asked while studying the gadget.
Kryan took a deep breath, then relaxed in his chair.
“Because that’s the main topic of discussion we’re proposing for this meeting. We recently found out that the humans have gained access to alien technology. This invisibility collar stands as undeniable proof. My brother and I have tried countless times to warn you this species is not as underdeveloped and vulnerable as we first thought.”
“We got the collar from an FBI agent who tried to infiltrate our business on Earth,” Aedar made sure to explain before anyone asked. “We gave it to our pleasure slave, so we’d be able to take her with us anywhere we want. We like to keep an eye on her, and leaving her alone in the house, even in a cage… Well, it personally makes me uncomfortable.”
Kryan nodded.
The ivory-skinned woman threw the collar on the table and sat back down. She was grinning from ear to ear.
A cold chill ran up Avery’s spine when the alien lady’s pale blue eyes fixed on her. What was she so pleased about?
“You do realize you’re killing her slowly, right? The invisibility serum is almost deadly to all our species. That’s why we gave up using it a long time ago. The human metabolism is much weaker than ours. I can’t even imagine what the frequent use of the serum will do to your dear pet.”
“Poppy doesn’t matter,” Kryan said coldly. “She’s easily replaceable. As for the effect the serum has on her body, we’re curious ourselves.”
“An FBI agent, huh?” The blue-skinned alien grabbed the collar and started playing with it. “I’d say I’m surprised, but I’d be lying. Humans do seem crazy and stupid enough to put their own in danger without a second thought. Using invisibility serum on their own assets…” He shook his head in mock disappointment. “They’re just making things easier for us. If all their secret agents have collars like this one, then they’ll soon have no agents. Works for me.”
Avery started shaking, and it wasn’t because she was naked and the room was rather chilly. Were they telling the truth about the invisibility serum? Did the Dreamland scientists know it was this dangerous? Had they simply decided to keep that information to themselves? Or… maybe her superiors were in on it? It was already too much to deal it. Too much bad news in just a couple of hours. Her temples were throbbing with an ugly headache, and all she wanted to do was lie down, fall asleep, and then wake up to realize it had all been a bad dream.
“Alright, take her away. Throw her in the brig with the others.”
Two guards immediately executed the ivory lady’s order. They grabbed Avery by the arms and pushed her toward the exit. Even though she didn’t resist them, they still squeezed her arms hard, leaving red marks on her pale skin, and pushed her harshly to make her walk faster. When they reached the brig, they threw her into something that resembled a glass cell and activated the field of energy that kept her locked.
“Hey! Aren’t you going to at least give me some clothes? A blanket? Anything.”
The guards laughed and left the brig.
“Damn it.” She ran her sweaty hands through her blonde hair and munched on her lower lip furiously. “Damn it. Fuck! How do I get out of here?”
“You don’t.”
The soft, feminine voice coming from her right startled Avery. She looked at the human young woman locked
up in the cage next to hers, and blinked a couple of times just to make sure her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her and she wasn’t hallucinating. No, the woman was real. Also, she was dressed in the weirdest clothes possible.
“What…? How…? What are you wearing?”
“Oh, this?” She stood up and twirled. The long, colorful skirt floated around her ankles, but still did nothing to cover her bare buttocks and crotch. It was secured with a belt around her waist, and two straps on the sides of her hips that connected the skirt to the belt. Her round, heavy breasts were completely exposed, the multitude of beads and necklaces around her neck doing nothing to cover them. Her long, dark hair flowed down her shoulders and back.
“Why don’t you…?” Avery motioned to her beautiful, rich locks.
“It’s not allowed. Don’t you think I’ve already thought about pulling my hair over my shoulders to cover myself up?” She chuckled. “Bad idea. I got ten whiplashes the first time I did it. Fifteen the second time. Never again.”
“Wow! I… I’m sorry.”
“So, your master wants you naked all the time?” Another feminine voice came from a cell that was much farther away.
“N-no.” Avery was dumbfounded, then she remembered what the alien woman had said: “Throw her in the brig with the others.” Apparently, she had meant “the other slaves”.
“Then? Why are you naked?”
“It’s a long story.”
The second young woman shrugged. “Well, I doubt I get better treatment than you two, but at least my master gifts me proper clothes every time I please him in one of those… err… specific ways that he likes.”
Avery studied her curiously. She was tall, slender, with curly red hair, blue eyes, and cute freckles covering her small nose and pale cheeks. She was wearing a red dress, rich and heavy with sparkling stones Avery had never seen before. She could tell they didn’t originate from Earth.
