“Masoh!” A young male said, his jaw tight and his eyes hard.
“Stand down, In’vion!” Masoh barked.
I nodded. “You have some decency left,” I said. “Take comfort in that.”
Masoh drew in another breath, and I made it his last. With a swift strike, I plunged my blade deep into his chest. The phase field around the blade cauterized his flesh instantly, but it wasn’t enough to save his heart from obliteration. Pulling the blade free, I let Masoh fall to the deck.
Gesturing with the blade, I said to his crew, “Our business is done. Leave.”
The young one bent to reach for Masoh’s corpse, but I stopped him with my blade to his throat. “I’ll clean that up,” I said. “Just leave it.”
One of the other males grabbed his arm and dragged him away. When they were gone, a few of my soldiers ambled on deck while the others followed Masoh’s crew out of our city.
“Somebody get him wrapped up before he bleeds on the deck,” Zacal said dispassionately. “Yiri.”
“Hmm?”
“What is her name?”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about, boss.”
CHAPTER 5
CORA
Mr. Darcyand I were settling into a late afternoon binge watch of my favorite vampire show when I heard the water droplet plink of a BMM message.
I’d spent some time exploring the app that morning and discovered I could update my status in a few different ways. Setting it tomatchedwould limit me to speaking with only the match of my choice, but I could also set it tocourting,which allowed me to select multiple profiles I was interested in receiving messages from. Anyone else who wanted to message me could send a request, but I could toggle those notifications off and only check them at my convenience. I switched fromavailabletocourting, adding Qhev K and Yiri Ahlon as preferred matches. I could always add more if things fizzled out with Yiri. Or if things got too serious with Yiri. I could see both possibilities.
Butterflies—Butterflies??—fluttered in my belly at the sound.Ugh. What was I doing? This guy was analien. He didn’t even live on the same planet as me. Butterflies were a sure sign that I was doing this side hustle wrong.
I opened the app, and the butterflies swooped, settling down. It wasn’t Yiri. It was Qhev.
Qhev K: Babe, we caused a scene with these eyes today. [Recording Attached: Qhev K]
The video played in a blur of colors, the camera moving too quickly to focus, and then it swung around to focus on Qhev as he held it out selfie style and fell backwards onto a cushioned surface. He did something with his hand, and the camera seemed to hang suspended above him as he sprawled out and groaned like a very tired man.
“Baaaaabe. They love it. I’d make it permanent, but the lasers hurt too much. I owe you for the look, though. When you find yourself a rich daernir husband, make him bring you to Venastea. Don’t let him keep you on any of those sad little moons. No. Come to Venastea and I’ll get you good seats for my show. You’ll have a great time. Better yet, find a male who’s not too jealous, and we can hit the coast. I know all the best clubs. Bring lots of makeup. Everything is lasers here, and I hate them.”
His lip curled in distaste, and somehow it only made him more attractive.
“Another Earth female told me about tattoos and piercings, though. Do you really poke yourselves with sharp metal tubes thousands of times? And the piercings aren’t cauterized? I mean, lasers are awful, but at least its sanitary. She said you get infections from it all the time. She had one in her—” he gestured to his stomach, which was bare down to his hips, and dusted with a trail of hair that had to be groomed to be so perfectly shaped into a sort of curved arrow pointing from his taught lower belly. I also noticed his nipples were pierced. “Her tummy zipper? No… What’s it called? We call it the mother’s tether. They laser that, too. Glad I don’t remember it. You call it something funny, though. Anyway, hers was all red and blotchy.Looked painful. At least the laser only hurts for a click or two. What about you, babe? You got anything like this?” He flicked one of his nipple piercings suggestively, grinning up at the camera. “Rec me back, gorgeous. Or call. I’m stuck inside for the night.”
Me: Did you just ask me to send a picture of my tits?
Qhev K: I didn’t, but I’ll take it if you’re offering.
Me: I’m not.
Qhev K: Pity. Call me, anyway?
I only hesitated a moment before tapping the icon to call him. What would an intergalactic call be like? Would there be video? Would it have static? I didn’t have long to wait to find out. After about fifteen seconds, my phone screen filled with a video call, Qhev still lounging on cushions.
“Um. Hi,” I said, eyes wide as I marveled at what was happening in my living room.
“Hi, gorgeous,” He said, tilting his head lazily. “You called.”
“Well, you asked me to,” I said, propping my phone up so I could be hands-free. “You’re stuck inside?”
