Waking up felt like I was treading through a fog, I couldn’t quite get to my destination. I shifted in and out of consciousness for what felt like days. Strange voices flitted around me, liquid was slipped down my throat, I could feel someone touching my hair...but still I slept on.
When I finally emerged from my deep sleep, it felt like I’d been sleeping for years. There was sunlight streaming in from a large window to my right that took up almost the whole side of the room...a very unfamiliar room I might add. This wasn’t my place or the seedy motel.
Panicking, I tried to rack my brain for where I was. Had I gone out with Cherry and gotten drugged? Sleepwalked? Was I still dreaming? A million different scenarios ran through my head until I fell on one that filled me with the most dread of all.
They’d taken me.
The Vepar.
The strange three men who’d been following me around for weeks.
Sitting up in bed, I was relieved to see that for the moment, I was at least by myself in a giant bedroom easily twice the size of my loft. I sat in the largest bed I’d ever seen, easily able to fit four sleeping adults. Moving my legs, I noted that the silky sheets were also the nicest I’d ever felt as they slid against my skin. Wherever I was, the person who owned this place owned expensive things. And if I was kidnapped, this had to be the strangest prison I’d ever seen.
Looking down at myself, I found myself wearing a flimsy white nightgown. My brain started to short circuit as I realized I wore nothing underneath, meaning that someone had taken off my bra and underwear and had seen everything.
Dread crept over me at the thought of what they’d done to me while I lay unconscious, but as I shuffled out of the bed, I sensed no pain, and especially not the kind I’d expect between my thighs if someone had forced themselves on me. Someone had broken into the motel room, carried me away without anyone noticing, redressed me, then laid me to sleep in a bed that would have belonged in a real palace. Not the run-down motel Palace.
I had to be dreaming.
But if it was the Vepar, and at this point that seemed the most likely scenario, how the hell had they found me at the motel?
Getting out of the bed, I walked on shaky legs to the window to look out and find my location. I gasped at the forest that spread out in front of me for as far as the eye could see. No sign of the skyscrapers that usually graced my eyesight. Wherever I’d been taken, it was a long way from home. My heart beat like it was trying to escape, matching my situation perfectly because I was about to have to try and escape.
A lock clicked behind me, and I backed into the corner, looking around wildly to see if there was anything, I could use to defend myself.
The door cracked open and an older, plump woman opened the door. Her silvery hair fell to her shoulders. “Oh good, you’re up,” she said cheerfully as if we knew each other. She started bustling around the room, going over to the bed and beginning to straighten the sheets.
Adrenaline flooded my body, and I bolted through the door she’d left open.
I heard her say, “Oh, dear,” as I left the room, but no footsteps followed me to signal she was trying to stop me.
A flight of stairs lay a ways down the hallway, and I flew down them not sure what I was going to do if the Vepar were waiting for me down below. I just knew that I couldn’t stay still any longer.
I jumped the last few steps, landing on the wooden floorboards with a loud creak. They were cold beneath my feet, icy almost. I glanced around to the open kitchen I’d entered, flooded in bright sunlight that was pouring in from the enormous windows. Everything was sleek lines, white, and very clean. The L-shaped counter was made of white marble, peppered with the latest kitchen gadgets including a mixer, stainless steel coffee machine, juicer, blender, and mini oven. The sweetest aroma of pancakes found me, and my stomach betrayed me, gurgling with hunger as I realized I didn’t remember ever getting to my frozen meal last night. I stared at the stack of pancakes on the island counter accompanied by an array of syrups and cream and chopped fruit. I couldn't remember the last time I’d eaten something so decadent. I obviously wasn’t going to get to eat it this time either.
Footfalls sounded upstairs, and I spun on the spot, searching for a way out. There on my right, stood a slightly open door with what seemed like sunlight shining out of it. A way out!
Adrenaline coursed through me, and I sprinted forward. When I dragged the door open wider, I ran straight into someone solid as stone. Stumbling backward, I whimpered, staggering over my feet, only to notice someone darting forward from the doorway to capture the mountain of blueberries that had flipped out of the bowl in his hand. Tiny purple balls rained down on me.
I fell on my ass, the tiny fruit tapping the floor around me. I looked up in dismay to see the blond haired Vepar who’d been following me around in the black town car studying me with a raised brow from the doorway.
“Going somewhere?” he asked in an amused tone. He was wearing nothing but a pair of loose pajama bottoms that hung low, showing off that “v” line that every girl seemed to be obsessed with. I hadn’t thought that it really existed before now, and I couldn’t stop staring. I had to stop.
He glanced down at the blueberry covered floor. “Guess we’ll have to have strawberries this morning,” he said with a sigh, beginning to walk past me, not bothering to pick up the blueberries or help me off the floor. I stared after him, my mouth hanging open in shock. I stood shakily and turned to bolt again for the door.
“There’s nowhere for you to run, my pet,” came another voice right as I took my first step. Moving toward the door I was about to run towards was the dark haired Vepar who seemed to be everywhere in my life recently.
“Where am I?” I asked in a trembling voice, suddenly very much aware of how thin my nightgown was. He took a step closer, his gait smooth and predatory. That was a trait of the Vepar that had always scared me, everything about their movements were a little too fluid, a little too perfect...a little too inhuman.
The Vepar studied me, not answering my question. He was dressed in jeans and a tight-fitting black t-shirt that went well with the bad boy image he had going for him. I could see the hint of a tattoo peeking out from the top of his shirt.
“Bring her in here,” the other Vepar called from the kitchen. As the black haired Vepar in front of me took another step closer, I panicked, my fight or flight instincts taking full effect. I had already tried the flight, apparently now it was time for the fight. I flew at the Vepar, scratching and clawing all the skin I found, shrieking as I did so like I was possessed.
Suddenly his hand encircled my neck in an iron grip, cutting off my air flow so abruptly that I couldn’t breathe. I tried to claw at his hands, but I might as well have been a child swatting at him with how little of a difference it made.
Leaning in close to me, he whispered in my ear, “Are you done yet, pet?”
I was just about to pass out, all the fight drained out of me, when he abruptly let me go. I flopped to the floor, squishing several of the blueberries underneath me as I fell. Footsteps sounded behind me.
“Pick her up and bring her here,” the blonde haired Vepar snapped. I felt myself being picked up by the waist and something that almost felt like a caress across my hair calmed me as I walked. Had that been in my imagination?
The black haired Vepar set me down in a chair way more gently than I thought he was capable. Still trying to recover from my momentary strangling session, I stared at my surroundings, keeping the two Vepar who were now both watching me in my sights as I did so.
It was clear I was in some sort of home, and not just a house, the nicest place I’d ever been to. There were at least five doors leading from the kitchen alone now that I looked more closely, making it unlikely that I would have been able to find a way out of this place quickly even if the Vepar hadn’t appeared. The mansion looked enormous.
“Hungry?” the blonde asked, setting down a giant stack of pancakes with strawberries on top in front of me. I stared at the food, my stomach growling and making me achingly aware once again that it had not had proper food in a while.
“How long have I been out?” I finally asked as I picked up my fork to take a bite, figuring that I needed to keep up my strength if I was going to get out of here. I also figured that it probably wasn’t poisoned since they had gone so far out of their way to kidnap me.
That first bite had me letting out an involuntary groan. It was one of the best things I had ever tasted. Looking up at the two Vepar, I dropped my fork with a clatter. Both of their eyes seemed to be glowing as they looked at me in a way that made it seem like they were more interested in eating me than they were the pancakes. I racked my brain trying to think if I had ever heard rumors that they liked to eat humans. I couldn’t think of anything I had heard, but their looks didn’t seem normal.
“Make that noise again,” said the black haired Vepar, and all of a sudden, I realized what that look was. It was hunger all right...hunger for my body.
I began to eat again, pretending not to notice the way their eyes were still glowing. This time I ate quietly.
Laughing as if I’d made a joke, the blonde turned back to the stove where he was flipping pancakes.
“You cook?” I blurted out as he expertly tossed one in the air, catching it on his spatula smoothly like he was a circus performer.
“We got rid of the help before you woke up,” he said dryly, turning to look at me. “I didn’t want you scaring them with your antics.”
I flushed, cold rage seeping into my veins. “My antics,” I said in a low voice. “You mean the fact that I acted like any normal human being would when they were being stalked and then kidnapped by aliens,” I snapped.
The black haired Vepar threw back his head and started laughing boisterously. Apparently, I amused them. “The little lamb has some bite after all,” he said through his laughter, sounding almost proud of me. Even the blonde was looking at me with a different glint in his eyes. I could tell that it took a lot to faze or impress him, and for some reason that glint gave me a warm feeling inside that I did my best to ignore.
I set my fork down after I realized I’d consumed my entire plate. “What are your names?” I asked, trying to continue the brave front I had briefly put on. “I think it’s only fair that I know who’s been stalking me for the past few weeks.”
“I’m Thane and pretty boy here is named Derrial,” the black haired Vepar responded, gesturing to the blonde. It was a relief to have names to attach to their faces. I couldn’t keep identifying them by their hair color forever. Though the idea of calling them hottie one, hottie two, and hottie three had crossed my thoughts.
“And the brunette guy who liked to stalk me in the gardens...What’s his name?” I asked, knowing he had to be around somewhere. Thane looked like he wanted to laugh but he kept himself in check. “Wonder boy’s name is Corran,” he said.
“Wonder boy?” I asked.
“He’s the lead scientist for the Vepar on Earth,” said Derrial. “One of the most brilliant scientists to be born in our society in over a millennium.”
I had a million more questions to ask based on his statement alone, but I kept myself in check, trying to focus on the essentials. And it also made sense now why Corran had said that weird stuff about plant species and that Russian village. He’d done his research on Earth and knew a hell of a lot more than I did.
“Why have you been following me?” I asked.
Derrial set the spatula down and leaned back against the counter. “A little bet at first. Who could sleep with the scared, beautiful human first...but after we had all watched you for a while...it just became more. And there’s something about you that makes us need to find out why you’ve got us so curious. So, we knew we had to have you.”
I pushed my chair back, standing on legs that were once again trembling, pushing a loose strand of hair behind an ear.
“You started to stalk me as a bet?” I asked in a whisper, my pulse racing and my knees weakening. “I’ve been terrified. I haven’t slept in weeks. I left my whole life behind to try and escape you. What kind of monsters are you?”
“I told you that it changed for us eventually,” said Derrial in a nonplussed voice. He began to stalk towards me in a way that left me feeling like prey he was about to catch. At the same time, Thane walked out of the room.
“Stay away from me,” I whimpered, backing up until I hit the wall and couldn’t go anywhere else. I desperately looked around, praying that someone would appear to help me. But there was no one around. Even the lady upstairs had evidently been sent home.
He didn’t stop approaching me until he was pressed up against me. I hated myself when heat spread all over my body from his close proximity.
He was tall, so tall that the top of my head only came to his shoulder despite the fact that I’d never been considered a short girl. And his scent… I swallowed hard, burning up at how sexy he smelled. A combination of muskiness and the crisp freshness of the outdoors. It was a pleasant scent that in a strange way calmed me and slowed my racing heart.
“You’re safe with us,” he murmured as if struggling to find his words while we were pressed together. I was no fool to know what he struggled with. The bulge in his pants nudged against my lower stomach... He was huge. The corners of his mouth tugged upward, well aware of what I felt.
I wasn't sure if I should be scared or turned on as I pictured him naked and what something that size could possibly do to me in the bedroom. An inferno climbed through me, but I pushed the vision away alarmed at my thinking. It was wrong and distracting when I was here as their prisoner, not their lover.
I didn’t move. I didn’t dare. For all I knew, they had a basement filled with humans in cages they experimented on. The whole Area 51 and aliens came to mind, especially since, as ironic as it sounded, the reporters had said the first alien vessel to make an appearance on Earth was over Area 51. Funny. At least the UFO believers had gotten something right. What they got wrong was everything else...
Derrial studied me as if he could read my thoughts. What exactly had he meant by being curious about me? I was as plain Jane as they came. I led a boring life, followed the rules, end of story. If they wanted interesting, they should look up Cherry.
“I don’t think the word, safe, has the same meaning to you as it does me,” I responded.
Derrial blinked slowly, and I was caught in the perfection of his blue eyes, his lashes were so long and thick any girl would have been jealous. Up close his pupils were a mosaic of blues, like crystalline waters, and for a few moments I wanted to fall into them.
His fingers were like a vise, pressing into my arms as he held me against him, and he stared down at me so intently.
“You’re hurting me. Let me go, Derrial.” My jaw clenched.
He hauled me toward the enormous window, and I stumbled alongside him before he spun me to look outside. An ocean of pine trees spread out as far as the eye could see, enormous mountains in the distance like sentinels watching over us. Beautiful, but right now it was terrifying as it meant we were alone out here and nowhere near home.
“See that out there?” he said, pointing to the wood covered landscape. I held my breath, preparing for the worst.
“Yeah.”
His grip softened and his palms slid down my arms, feather soft. “For miles there’s nothing but wilderness, animals, and danger,” he whispered in my ear, his breath warm, melting the ice in my veins.
I struggled to concentrate. It was hard to focus on his words when his fingers were skipping across my stomach. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion as he caressed my skin. I couldn't focus on anything but our connection. His rock-hard chest sat flush against my back, his bulge pushing against me, and his hand inched up my stomach ever so slowly.
I gasped for air. “Danger?”
His fingers trailed under my breasts gently, a wisp’s touch away from grazing them, only the light fabric of my nightgown between us. Heat pooled between my thighs, and I grew wetter with the anticipation. My breath hitched; my mind focused only on his closeness. My body betrayed me, begging me to turn around and kiss him, discover what a Vepar tasted like. I should have slammed my heel into his foot, instead I stood there, my body thrumming with my racing pulse, my heart in my throat, waiting for him... What was he waiting for?
“There are rumors,” he began, his words still hushed, “of escaped caiks. Creatures from our world that are akin to your wolves living in these woods. They’re carnivores with a sharp beak and tongue, making them ideal for eating creatures. Vicious things that stowed away on a few ships when we arrived.” He paused, seemingly for dramatic affect. “So, my advice to you is to not wander out there alone.”
“Are you kidding me?” I twisted my head to face him, and his expression remained stoic. “Why would you let them loose on our planet and not round them up? It’s your responsibility to not destroy our ecosystem.”
Someone cleared their throat, and I glanced over to find it was the Vepar with brown hair, Corran. Clearly the scientist agreed with me.
Derrial’s hands disappeared and he backed away, his earlier warmth replaced by a chill from the loss of his body against mine.
Thane broke into a laugh. When had those two come into the room?
I glanced up at Derrial. “You’re joking about the caiks, right?”
He shrugged, but the edges of his mouth twitched as if he might break into a smile.
Asshole.
“The house is yours to enjoy. We’re heading out for a short while.” Without another word, the three of them strolled out of the room, and the sound of a door closing reached me.
“What the hell?” I followed them into a hallway containing a chandelier hanging overhead that dripped in crystals and paintings of forests and open land adorning the walls. I rushed to the grand white door that must be the main entrance to the mansion, but it was locked, and I couldn’t find any way to unlock it. I felt around thinking there must be some hidden way to open the door, but after half an hour of searching, I gave up. A sinking sensation washed through me. I may not be in a cage, but this was a prison still the same.
If the Vepar were going to lock me up in their home, then they should expect me to do some snooping, not to mention track down a telephone to call for help. Definitely not Cherry after her crap...maybe my new boss at the cafe might help.
I wished I’d spent more time making more friends, socializing, rather than keeping to myself. But I was a fool for too long and believed Cherry was all the friendship I needed as I struggled with losing my parents. I wished I could rely on her, and I kept telling myself maybe she was going through something, struggling with her own things. Maybe I had been the person in the wrong because I hadn’t noticed, and I’d never asked her about it. Regardless, her behavior had been horrible, and she really hurt me when I needed her the most. I wasn’t sure I was ready to forgive her...or even if it was possible for me to forgive her at all.
Shaking aside my thoughts about Cherry, I returned back to the current pressing need to escape from here. I grabbed one of the stools at the island counter and carried it over to one of the floor-to-ceiling windows. My heart raced; I knew the Vepar would be pissed if they came home to a broken window. But I wasn’t staying here if they were going to be stupid enough to leave me alone. With all my strength, I hurled the stool in my hands into the window.
It smacked against the glass with an explosive thud, then bounced backward with such speed that I had to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit. Fear tightened around my chest. The stool rolled and slid across the kitchen floor until it smacked onto the counter and came to a dead stop.
“Shit!”
The window didn’t show a single blemish or crack. I walked closer and ran my hand over its smooth surface. They must have some kind of bullet proof glass. This had to be some kind of compound to keep people locked in the house… or something out? Humans hated the Vepar, so they’d have to think there would be someone who’d attack them.
Regardless, unease sat in my stomach because it seemed getting out of here was an impossibility. Still, I spent the next hour checking all the potential exits of the house that I could find.
Finally giving up, I headed back into the kitchen. I opened the fridge, shivering a bit at the chill. The shelves were filled with fruit and vegetables. I grabbed a banana and a bottle of water, then searched every drawer and cupboard. No knives in sight, and I rolled my eyes. No telephone in sight either. I made my way into a room that came off the kitchen. My stomach knotted with anticipation of finding Vepar secrets. In the room I found a King-sized bed perfectly made with black bedding. I padded over to the wardrobe and pulled it open to discover neatly hung clothes. Tailored pants, suits, shirts...This had to be Derrial’s room. The room had that tidy, perfectly organized feel to it, and I got the urge to mess something up just to see if he would notice. I controlled myself.
There were no bedside tables or anything else in this room and of course the windows were unopenable, so I took another bite of my banana and rushed into another room, dropping off the peel onto the kitchen counter as I passed through it. I found an in-house gym, filled with weights, and I quickly moved onto the next room as I had no interest in exercising. Another bedroom, simple again with a large bed, tidy once again. The closet held jeans, tees, shirts and a couple of suits only. I fingered the leather jacket, smiling. Okay, someone had taste. The bedside drawers were empty. What the hell… it was as if these men didn’t actually live here. Where were their gadgets or anything about their planet... or anything at all? The next room sat empty, and I found no other doors downstairs or even a basement entrance.
Gulping down several mouthfuls of chilled water, I headed upstairs. The bedroom I woke up in lay ahead, the door open, and bright light poured in through the windows. To my right sat two doors. The first one was a bathroom with the largest tub I’d ever seen, possible for three people to share comfortably. The feet were gold just like the small touches on the sink. Opening the cabinets showed nothing but packaged toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and an array of toiletries, plus towels. Everything was expensive, brands that I had only heard of in celebrity magazines but never imagined being able to use on myself. Nothing that could help me to escape or defend myself in any way, however.
The next door sat locked, and I stiffened, then tried the handle a few more times.
“Maybe this is the secret room of mystery.” I placed my ear to the door and swore I heard a soft whirring sound as if someone left a fan running. What was in there? Maybe it was where they kept the chocolate and television. I laughed at how unlikely that was, but wishful thinking on my part. I bet they had a telephone in there.
A quick check in the last room had me gasping. Shelves covered three fourths of the room, filled to the brim with books. It was like something out of Beauty and the Beast complete with a window seat that had a cushion, inviting me to sit there and soak in the sun while reading. In the middle sat a round table and three chairs, and I pictured the three Vepar sitting here, discussing new things they found in these books. I hurried inside, forgetting everything else, and ran my hands over the spines of the books, on various topics from governments, inventions, space exploration, and even one on the best slow cooked meals. Interesting. I assumed that belonged to the lady I’d seen earlier making my bed.
Back in the bedroom, I found a pile of clean clothes waiting for me in the closet. Jeans and a frilly blue buttoned-up shirt, which was strange, but they looked about my size. A silky pair of underwear fell out from the shirt and I picked it up, noting how tiny the thong was, and heat crawled up my cheeks, thinking of the men picking this out for me. Had they been planning to bring me here all along, so they bought me clothes? Or was this from another girl who they’d kept a prisoner and she just happened to be my size? If that was the case, what happened to the women once they fell out of favor with these Vepar?
I collected my clothes and marched into the bathroom, needing a shower and non-transparent clothes for when the Vepar returned. One way or another I was going to find out exactly what they wanted from me. And I wasn’t taking no for an answer.