Thegodsaunteredacrossthe hangar towards me, the picture of male arrogance. He was tall, the tips of his curved pointed ears coming to the first row of rivets in the hangar doors, putting him somewhere around seven feet. Black fur covered all the exposed parts of his leanly muscled body, sleek and shiny. Winged gold eyeliner shone under his darkly laughing eyes and shiny teeth flashed in his narrow muzzle as he gave me a toothy grin when he stopped in front of me, a hand on his narrow hip.
“Going somewhere, darling?”
I could only gape up at him, slack jawed, the rifle loose in my hands.
Anubis was wearing tight black leather pants and apink feather boalined transparent crop top that showed off dark pierced nipples, the gold of the loops winking at me as the light caught them. Rippling abs dared me to look closer, but the additional rings that clinked in his ears, six on one and four in the other drew my gaze away from the danger zone. The malewas positively dripping in gold. He had gold bracelets on each wrist, gold rings on every finger, and gold rings that wrapped tightly midway on his slim whipping tail.
Twin gold handled curved knives were strapped to his thick thigh and another was tucked into his waistband, drawing my eye to an Adonis belt that had my cheeks heating.
Good googly moogly, Batman.
Danger!
Red alert!
Avert your eyes, woman.
I blinked, looking back up to find Anubis staring down at me with a knowing light in his dark eyes, his tongue coming to lick across his fangs.
“Like what you see, human? I am a divine specimen, if I do say so myself. A prime example of male virility. You may touch if you’d like. But I must warn you, I will touch back.”
His voice was full of dark promise, conjuring images of sweat slick skin and straining bodies over twisted sheets. It was just the bucket of cold water needed to restart my brain into action.
“Ha. Not likely.”
I snapped my rifle up and squeezed the trigger.
Click.
My heart froze in my chest right as Anubis clicked his teeth.
“DNA coded, darling. They won’t shoot me. Safer that way, don’t you think?”
Right.
Pivot, Callie. Pivot.
I kicked him in the nuts.
Anubis went down with a hiss and I sprinted to the small transport ship to my right. My fingers just grazed the drop door panel when a steel hard arm wrapped around my waist. The rifle was jerked out of my hand and tossed—the hard scattering clack of it skidding across the metal floor sounded awfully like mydoom—and then I was lifted off my feet like a rag doll. The world flipped and I landed over his shoulder with a grunt of forcibly expelled air.
A sharp stinging slap landed on my upturned ass, the cracking sound ringing in the air followed swiftly by my shout of pained outrage.
“That wasn’t very polite. I have a mind to make you kiss it all better.”
I struggled in his grasp for half a second before my common sense fizzled enough in my brain to get my shit together. I reached for his daggers, my hand closing around the golden hilt and pulling the blade a few inches out of its sheath before a hard hand squeezed over mine with enough force to make my knuckles press together painfully.
“Nuh huh, my dear. I wouldn’t want you to cut yourself,” he said, the sharp edge of his mockery cutting me more easily than any blade ever could. I grunted when he squeezed hard enough to make me drop the hilt. He tsked me while he moved the dagger out of my reach. My fists pounded on his back as I growled over my shoulder.
“If you keep up this kind of playful banter I’m liable to think you’re flirting with me. Shall I kiss away your hurts?”
“Try it,” I dared him, my teeth bared. I had fangs now, so I knew the effect was menacing. I’d practiced in the mirror to get it right.
He only laughed over his shoulder at me, his stride confident and swift as we left the ship, the massive outer hangar doors groaning closed behind us. I watched in despair as the ugly brown patchwork ship hangar bay faded from my view as we continued down a barely holding together rusted metal gangway and turned a sharp corner into what could only be described as the DMV from Hell.
Lines of aliens dozens deep waited with hopeless despair before metal grate covered windows. A grand total of three bored looking female aliens stamped things and stared with vacant eyes at the irate customers spewing spittle against the grime smeared protective glass separating the workers from plebeians. Neon red numbers shone above the windows, counting up ever so slowly, and a voice spoke over a beat up speaker hanging from the wall by a single barely holding on wire. “Number 47,946. Proceed to window two. Identification is required.”
A hulking beast of an alien that looked like he was made of slabs of chiseled stone with a hololink flashing the number over his wrist rose from the flimsy metal chair. He carried no less than six guns on his body and looked like he pulled people’s heads off for fun. As he approached the window eight colossal black guns pushed out of square holes in the wall and followed his movements. When he stopped at the counter, the bored female clerk, without looking up at him, pointed her claw at a dirty plastic ring that resembled those blood pressure cuffs you saw at drugstores on Earth bolted to the lip of the counter on his side of the window. The male grumbled and shoved his fist through the ring where a light strobed and scanned his hololink. On the window his face flashed through a series of mug shots from different planets. A list of charges typed in red glyphs scrolled by his picture at a mile a minute.
