When I woke the next morning, my body felt like I did right before the flu hit; achy and feverish. I laid in bed for a moment with my eyes closed, getting my bearings, wondering how a sickness could have struck so quick when I’d been feeling fine before. I shifted and an ache bit between my legs and on my neck. Instantly, I sat up with a start, my eyes flying open as I remembered what happened last night. I scanned the room for Derrial, but I was alone. He’d gone and left me here? We’d scratched our insatiable itch, so was I now free? I ignored the part of my heart that flickered with what felt like pain at the thought.
This was what I had hoped for, so now I could go home. Thinking of my hovel of a loft and my job that gave me just enough for bare essentials and not anything else didn’t fill me with the happiness it had in the past. But it was still freedom in a way.
No sooner had those thoughts passed through my mind then the front door of the suite opened with a click, and a second later Derrial came into view. I tugged the blanket up to my neck, suddenly very much aware of the fact I remained naked. Of course, I shouldn’t have been shy or had my cheeks on fire after our time together last night, but in truth, those memories of letting myself go made the embarrassment worse. I’d wanted him like I needed air, and just remembering our time together sent a shiver of excitement down through me.
He looked somehow brighter this morning, a huge smile on his face, the corners of his eyes crinkling. He seemed to carry a vibrant sexiness this morning. Plus, his skin seemed to have a sun-kissed glow. He wore a perfect suit as usual, today’s was a black pinstripe one with a light blue shirt underneath. In a word, I couldn’t believe I slept with a specimen that looked that perfect. An alien who for years I’d detested. Now, my emotions left me lost and confused.
I glanced at myself in the mirror hanging on the side wall and saw how tired I looked, dark circles under my eyes, and my hair sat limp, in desperate need of a wash. My skin appeared abnormally pale. I glanced back at Derrial who stared at me with a speculative gaze. I tried to remember if I’d ever heard of health repercussions for humans who had sex with Vepar, but all I could think of were the stories I’d read about women, and men, who became addicted to whatever the Vepar did in bed. How they spent every moment trying to get the Vepar to notice them and “keep” them. Those people had become obsessive, and I prayed that didn’t happen to me, especially with the way I admired Derrial.
So, if the Vepar weren’t hazardous to your health, then why did I look and feel like an extra in the Night from the Living Dead?
“How are you feeling this morning, kitten?” Derrial asked in a nonchalant tone.
I scowled at him, now even more suspicious. “What did you do to me?” I asked, my body shaking from the flu like symptoms that seemed to be growing worse. “
“You mean besides the best sex of your life?” he stated in that same casual tone that was beginning to drive me crazy as my anxiety escalated.
I gestured between the two of us with a flick of my hand. “Why do you look like you just got off a yearlong vacation whereas I look and feel like I’m hovering on death’s door?”
He stared at his nails as if there was something on them before answering. “Oh, are you feeling the effect of the incomplete bond? I’ve heard that can be painful to experience,” he explained nonchalantly as if we were discussing the latest score of the Lakers.
Bond.
What the fuck.
My heart slammed into my ribcage. What was he talking about? Granted I hadn’t done my best to learn as much about the Vepar after my parents vanished as I could, but I’d think if there was such a thing as bonding between humans and Vepar, surely someone would have mentioned it by now?
“What do you mean? What bond?” I whispered in a hoarse voice, curling forward as I clutched the blanket to my chest tighter.
“I’m sure you remember my bites from last night?” he asked with a smirk as if proud of himself. “The bite is something that dates back to Vepar ancestors, it was a way to claim property...or claim their mate. It made it so that the intended creature was bound to males because of the enzymes that are deposited in their skin. The symptoms you’re feeling are withdrawal symptoms. They’ll only be evened out by either me biting you again...or you drinking my blood.”
I stared at him in shock, fury rising inside of me so hot and thick that it might as well be burning me alive. It must have only been a few hours since he’d bitten me for the second time. How often did I need him to sink his teeth into me in order to stave off these symptoms? Symptoms that grew worse as the minutes ticked by, to the point that if I stood, I was certain I’d collapse. And drink his blood? Was he out of his mind? I wasn’t a vampire. Just the thought had bile hitting the back of my throat.
“I have to leave in just a few minutes for the Summit, kitten. What’s it going to be? Take a small sip of blood and be fine, or let me take a bite?”
My stomach turned at both options even as I remembered how my body buzzed, how aroused I grew from his attention last night.
Thinking about it, the bite felt more intimate than I was willing to admit this morning. And he’d said just a “sip of blood,” which couldn’t be that bad, right? Hell, was I really contemplating this? I had a feeling that I was going to regret this, but what was the alternative? Keep feeling like I’d been run over by a truck, which then backed up over me, again and again.
“I don’t want to bite you, so you’ll have to cut yourself,” I told him. Something like triumph flashed in his eyes, and I immediately wondered if I was about to make a horrible mistake.
He already pulled out a pocket knife from his pocket and slashed his hand before I could think further about it. “Hurry,” he said. “This will heal quickly as my blood coagulates fast, and I’m not going to offer you this chance again.” I gaped at the blood puddling on his hand. It wasn’t red like mine but carried a bluish-green hue. Yet another reminder of who stood in front of me - a perfect being who wasn’t human.
“Kitten,” he growled, a thread of urgency in his voice as the wound started to close up in front of my eyes. Not allowing myself a chance to think anymore, I pulled his hand towards me, closed my eyes, and pressed the wound to my mouth. I took a slurp.
It was sweet, nothing like the salty tang of human blood. It wasn’t an unpleasant taste at all, but the second I swallowed a tingling started to spread throughout my body just from the one small mouthful I’d taken. I broke away, pushed his hand from my mouth, and glared at him accusingly.
“Was that enough? Is it supposed to tingle like this?” I asked, gasping as a warm heat started to follow the tingles.
Derrial grinned, more satisfied than I’d ever seen him look. “The bond is forming. You should be back to your normal self soon,” he said. He leaned closer and stroked my face softly, a expression on his face that was new, soft and tender. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said before brushing a kiss across my lips, then he turned to stalk out of the door in that fluid, graceful way that all the Vepar had.
“I hate you,” I threw after him.
He turned to look at me. “You know this is forever, right?” he asked with a sardonic smile appearing on his face even as I plotted a million ways to escape from this hell I’d found myself in.
He left the room, and I stared after him flabbergasted as the front door closed, signaling he’d left the suite. Still drowning in the tingling and warmth encasing my body, I wanted nothing more than to forget I’d just drank alien blood. What had I been thinking?
One thing was for sure. After taking his strange blood, I better wake up feeling like a brand-new woman, full of energy, or I was kicking someone’s ass.
I curled up on my side and fell into a fitful sleep haunted by images of me sprouting horns and a tail and drinking the blood of hapless humans I came across.
By the time I woke up, I laid spread out on the bed, the bedsheets tangled around my legs, but I was breathing easy. I didn’t know if it was the glorious sunlight drenching me in warmth from the window, or that I fell asleep so heavily, or the blood I’d taken from Derrial, but regardless, right now I felt incredible. So much so, I could swear I’d fly if I headed outside.
I stared out at the beautiful blue sky outside of the floor to ceiling windows deciding I loved living so high up in the air, sharing my space with birds and clouds. Was this what it would be like traveling in a spaceship when the Vepar came to Earth, keeping only the universe view for company? I’d heard on TV a Vepar once saying, the crew slept for most of the trip, so maybe it wouldn’t be so great. Plus, the one time I did catch a flight as a child, I got the worst motion sickness.
I realized that I was rambling to myself and tried to slow down my thoughts, but for the first time in too long, a newfound joy beamed through me, and I couldn’t even understand the reason.
My stomach growled with hunger, and with no idea how long I’d been asleep, I untangled myself from the sheets and pushed my legs over to the edge of the mattress. I expected to hurt because earlier I wasn’t sure that I would be able to walk without falling over, but as I climbed onto my feet, I bounced on my toes, feeling ready to run a marathon.
Damn, whatever had been in Derrial’s blood had left me feeling amazing. At that moment my euphoria cleared enough that I was able to remember his words about our bond. A cold dread shifted over me, pushing out the strange joy I had just been feeling. I needed to find out what exactly the bond meant, knowing that I wasn’t going to like whatever it meant. It was ridiculous for me to think that he could have at least told me about it first. After all, he hadn’t exactly asked for my permission before kidnapping me from my world.
I padded over on bare feet into the kitchen admiring how the floorboards in this hotel were shiny and so clean. I pictured myself living somewhere like this, with such luxury, and I doubted I’d ever leave to go outside. Not when I had everything I needed right here.
Like the previous days, I swiftly scanned the tables and couches in case Derrial or one of the guards had left behind their cells considering all the phones had been removed from this penthouse. Maybe I was being foolish in even believing I had anyone to call for help. After witnessing Derrial’s influence over world leaders, what exactly would authorities do if I called, insisting he’d kidnapped me? I wasn’t a fool not to know how badly that could go for me. I would need a different tactic. Sure, I loved it here, but this was me floating high on an alien’s blood and daydreaming of living in a fairytale.
Stomping over to the fridge, I pulled it open, expecting food, but instead I stared at bottles of water. I sighed before having a bright idea. I grabbed some water and headed over to the couch. I flopped down and collected the menu from the hotel’s restaurant. This would all be under Derrial’s name, which meant I could order anything.
Once I made my choice, I headed to the front door and cranked it open. In a flash, a guard stepped in my path, broad shouldered and enormous.
“You can’t leave,” he snorted.
“Fine by me.” I shrugged and handed him a piece of paper.
He stared at it, his brow furrowing in a dozen lines, then glanced up at me quizzically without accepting the note.
I pushed it to his hand once again. “I’m hungry and I need you to go order this food for me.”
He cocked an eyebrow, stiffening as if getting me food was below his pay rank. The other guard farther down the corridor chuckled, and I noted only two of them guarded my door.
I slouched a hip into the door frame and huffed. “Do you really want me to tell Derrial I’ve been starving all day, close to fainting, because you refused to get me a bit of food?”
He made a grunting sound deep in his chest, glaring at me from hooded eyes, and snatched the paper from my hand before studying it. He snorted. “A bit of food? Where are you going to put all this?” Looking my way, he scanned me head to toe. “And there’s no salad or vegetable in sight?”
I gritted my teeth, refusing to show him how much I wanted to hit him in the nose, even if it required me to get on tippy toes to do so. If I was trapped in a penthouse, then I was spoiling myself, and right now I was so hungry, it made me impatient and my pulse raced with a desperation to eat something.
“Don’t forget the sundae.” I stepped back inside and slammed the door shut.
Where had my feistiness come from, all in the name of food? Hell hath no fury when my stomach rumbled. I smirked, grabbed an apple from the complimentary hotel fruit basket, and crashed onto my bed while switching on the television.
Half an hour later and still no food, I was about to check with the guards where my order was, when the click of the front door sounded.
Yes!
I hurried out of my bedroom, calling out over my shoulder, “Give me a sec, I’ll be right out.”
With my mouth already salivating and deciding I’d devour the sundae first, I rushed down the hallway and into the living room.
But instead of food waiting for me, I found Derrial, his back to me, staring out the window. He wore jeans and a black dress shirt. When did he get changed? Peering at him closer, I realized that he stood wrong. One shoulder sat slightly lower than the other, he looked somehow smaller, deflated. Strange since he was a man who towered over others, never backing down. Maybe something had happened at the Summit?
“Derrial? Is everything okay?”
He didn’t respond at first, but he cracked his neck, and a shiver slithered up my back. Unease crept over me when he didn’t answer.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
The space around him seemed to quiver or was I seeing things?
When he started to turn around, the room dimmed…
Something was very wrong.
The energy around him darkened and now flowed off his body like waves. And when he faced me, I gasped.
My stomach sunk through me, rattling me at the core.
“Who are you?” I recoiled, hugging myself, noting he stood in my way to escape.
A different Vepar I’d never seen before stood before me, and in a heartbeat, he lunged towards me. Eyes wide and dark, hands reaching out for me.
I screamed when my world tilted under me.