Tessi

TESSI

What have I gotten myself into?

I nearly swayed on my feet, the overwhelming presence of Alkard making it hard to concentrate, or even breathe. Alkard's scent washed over my palate with every breath, nerves in my skin still singing with electric excitement at the memory of his touch on my skin.

What other choice did I have? I have to find out what happened to Mera, or I'll never have any peace. And I had nothing to barter with. Nothing…

Nothing except myself. Only he says he won't force things on me I don't want. But that begs the question--just what do I want?

I had no answer, which proved perhaps the most frightening aspect of all.

Alkard's desire-glazed gaze and the way he had remained transfixed upon my every motion suggested he had some difficulties of his own. He licked his lips, giving me a glimpse of his fangs. My neck throbbed with the memory of the bite…and it wasn't the only part of me throbbing.

"I would imagine," he said, startling me out of the reverie, "that you have some belongings stowed at your home you might wish to collect?"

I thought of the small place I had in the Under.

"Yes." I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried not to look at Alkard when I spoke. "They are worthless, you couldn't sell them for credits or anything, but I would like to keep them."

"If you want them, then they have worth, indeed." Alkard's brows climbed high on his slate gray face. When he wasn't angry, Alkard's features seemed almost noble. But there was always that hint of the beast lurking just beneath, ready to pounce and devour.

"I'll go and collect them, then," I said, moving toward the door. "Can I meet you back here? I'm afraid I don't know the way to your house."

"You're not going to the Under alone. I have an urgent matter I must attend, or I would accompany you myself. I'll send someone along with you for protection."

"That's really not necessary," I replied, alarmed at the prospect of one of the Vinduthi coming with me down to the Under. "I'm a big girl, Alkard. I can take care of myself. I did it for more than two decades before you sauntered into my life."

"I do not saunter." His eyes narrowed. "And you are mine for the next thirty days, Tessi?—"

"To a point," I interjected, but he kept speaking as if I had not interrupted him.

"You will not renege on your contract with me, sealed with a taste of your blood." His eyes grew distant, and a predatory smile tugged at the corners of his sensual lips. "I will see to it you survive to fulfill your end of the bargain."

I sighed heavily.

"Okay, fine, so who are you sending?"

He led me to the club floor, and then to the bar, where a burly Vinduthi with tracery as red as blood showing on his face and neck sat. He looked up from a conversation with Zanthat at our approach, gaze flicking over to me for a moment before settling on Alkard.

"What now?" he asked in a voice utterly devoid of emotion. His inscrutable stare proved impossible to fathom as well.

What is this guy's deal? Is he a robot or something?

"Kovas, this is Tessi. She is going to travel to the Under, and you are going to accompany her."

"Of course," Kovas replied without hesitation. "What are the mission parameters?"

Okay, I was kidding about the robot thing. Come on now…

"Keep her alive and well, Kovas. That's it. You are to take her from her home in the Under to my house directly. This means that you should avoid fighting unless necessary. Understood?"

"Understood. No harm will come to her, I swear."

I felt a wave of reassurance come over me. Even if he did seem cold, stone like, and put off an aura of menace, Kovas sounded earnest. I believed he really would do whatever possible to keep me safe.

That didn't make him one iota less unsettling to be around. My attempts at conversation were met with noncommittal grunts, or more usually, silence.

He had been ordered to safely escort me to and from my old place. He didn't have to like me. Alkard hadn't ordered it, after all.

For a brief moment, I wondered what would happen if Alkard did order him to like someone? Would he do his damndest to see it done?

We descended into the Under, where those with bad indenture contracts and the undocumented resided. Officially, it was illegal to occupy the lower warrens of the station. But no one wanted to risk a humanitarian or public relations crisis by clearing it out.

And besides, there was a certain school of thought that said Thodos needed the Under. Otherwise, the chaos, violence, and misery it encompassed might boil up to where the ‘decent' folk lived.

You can just guess how those of us who lived there felt about that.

"You can relax," I said with a sigh as we passed through a small encampment of a myriad of different races. Either aged-out and worked half to death, thus unable to sign an indenture contract…

Or undocumented, which could mean a criminal or just someone who overstayed their station visitor time limit and didn't want to go home. A rough bunch, and some of them could potentially be trouble, but overall too downtrodden to offer much of a threat.

That didn't stop Kovas from glaring them all into submission and retreat as we passed through the encampments.

"Stop it," I said again with a sigh. "There are very few people down here dumb enough, crazy enough, or suicidal enough to try and tangle with a Vinduthi. Especially one that looks like you do."

His gaze snapped over to me, and I couldn't tell if he was angry with me or just paying attention.

Either way, I squirmed under his stare.

"Ah, that is, not that there's anything wrong with the way you look. Just that, you know, you um, carry yourself with this…"

I made a futile gesture in the air. He snorted and turned his gaze back to our path.

The awkwardness stung me the rest of the way to my home, such as it was. We came upon a dark, seldom used maintenance tunnel. About halfway down its length, a curtain drawn over a heat sink formed an alcove.

I jerked the curtain back as he looked on with a mix of horror and disbelief.

"You were living here?" he murmured as I crawled inside to gather up my belongings. There was no need to take along my tattered blanket, I didn't think. In fact, I was embarrassed to even think of Alkard seeing it.

My glass statue of a fawn, a pearl-handled comb my mother had given me, and a translucent jade guitar pick were the only things I took with me.

The statue was chipped, the comb was missing teeth, the guitar pick was scratched. But even damaged, they were precious to me. Proof that beauty could survive anywhere, even down in the Under.

We exited the tunnel, and headed back toward the surface decks. At a T junction, Kovas threw his arm over my path and looked around warily.

"We are not alone."

I spotted a glint of reflected light under a nearby stairway landing. Eight pairs of slanted blue ovals glimmered in the deep shadows there. Kovas used his percomm to shine a cone of white light underneath, catching a glimpse of long, glossy black segmented legs.

"Tessi!"

A small creature lunged out of the shadows, something like a centaur if the lower half were a spider rather than a horse. Its face was jarring, and had few features, but the high-pitched voice sounded like that of a child.

"Wait!" I said, throwing myself in Kovas' path before he attacked. "It's all right. I know him. He's a friend of mine. Please!"

Kovas cocked his head to the side, and seemed vaguely amused.

"You really think I would hurt an obvious child, human?" he snorted as the sound of many legs clanking on the floor grew closer behind me.

"Tessi, where have you been? I was so worried."

I turned around quickly. "It's all right, Keechee," I said, ruffling the bristly hairs on his head. "I'm just fine, okay? You don't have to worry."

"Wedda said you were dead, but I told him he was a damn liar. He said he saw your body but we all know that Wedda is full of it most of the time—hey, are you leaving?"

"Only for a month. Don't worry, I'm going to be fine." I said the latter half with emphatic conviction, but I couldn't make myself feel it. Not really.

"Where are you going?"

"It's probably best if you don't know. I don't want you going up top trying to find me, and wind up whisked off to prison by station security."

"That's not fair." He shook his head as if in frustration. "Well, I'll watch over your squat, so nobody else tries to take it."

"Thank you, but you really don't have to do that. I mean, nobody else wanted it, which was why I got it in the first place."

"I'll watch over it for you," Keechee said stubbornly.

"Here, kid." Kovas handed Keechee a dozen paper credit scrips. "For your service, guarding her squat."

As soon as we were out of earshot, Kovas snapped his gaze onto me.

"Do not think me a gentleman because I will not hurt children. I will tear your limbs from your body if you wind up being a spy. Understood?"

I shivered and nodded, too frightened to speak.

Kovas led me up to the ‘normal' decks via a different route than I had expected. They came out far toward the foredeck of the station. Here were the green arboretums which helped to clean and recycle the station's air.

I walked among vast glass domes, some tall enough to be capped with condensation. The biggest one of all loomed ahead of them as Kovas led the way.

"Come," he said in his stony manner.

And you know what? I liked that.

After a lifetime of having to guess who was lying, what was hiding behind the masks of everyone around me, this was refreshing.

If he was going to kill me, he'd tell me upfront.

That was kinda nice.

Kovas led the way to a pressurized door with two Dargun soldiers, armed to the teeth, stood guard beside it. They did not move at all as Kovas opened the door and led the way inside of the dome.

I gasped at the breath of fresh air as inside, I found myself in a lush forest, imported dirt beneath my feet. It didn't just look like the surface of a planet, it smelled and felt like one, too.

Well, as long as I didn't look straight up and see the top of the dome where a bright, ten foot diameter light provided an artificial sun.

I walked along a paved path until we came upon a two story house, and nearly stumbled as Kovas led the way inside. A warm, brightly hued hardwood floor gleamed up cheerfully at me. Plush, comfortable-looking and yet undeniably stylish furnishings abounded, both in the living area and the adjoining den.

What was I expecting? I chided myself. Skulls and flames and chains on the walls? Maybe a flock of vampire bats squeaking past?

"By all means, Master Kovas. Do let yourself in and make yourself at home."

We turned to see a stern faced, thin-bodied Vinduthi of advanced age. The crinkle by the corner of his eyes made it seem he might be more amused than annoyed, but it was hard to tell.

"Oh, don't give me that, Nayal," Kovas said, bristling. "Alkard said to bring her here. I brought her here."

If anything, the old Vinduthi drew himself up even taller. "All right, so you have brought her. Now you may leave."

Kovas spun on his heel and left, just like that. Nayal turned to me and smiled, offering a half bow.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Tessi. I am Nayal, as you might have surmised. If you'll follow me to your quarters."

"I have quarters?"

"Indeed, you can prepare yourself for tonight."

Anxiety reared up in my mind and despite my best efforts to stand up tall and proud, my shoulders hunched a little as I clutched my treasures to my chest like a lost child.

"What happens tonight?"

"The master will call on you," he said. "Until then, you may rest and prepare for his arrival."

He led me up a staircase, then down a hallway with a dark red carpet soaking up our footsteps and more of the golden wood lining the corridor's walls. Everything whispered warmth and a rustic elegance.

Nayal opened a door halfway down the hallway, showing me into a large bedroom with a single window looking out on the trees.

A huge bed with a comfortable looking down duvet and about a dozen pillows looked awfully inviting…until I saw the open closet door.

"Holy shit," I whispered, heading into a walk-in closet so wide I could stretch my arms out and still not touch the sides.

I looked at the elegant gowns and garments hanging in a colorful array for my perusal. I selected a rich black velour-type dress and held it up against myself. The fit looked good. Too good to be true.

"How did he get my measurements—oh."

My indenture contract.

It made sense. All of my physical statistics, including my blood type ironically enough, were included on the document.

It made sense, it was logical, but something about it still stung, just a bit.

I found a vanity fully stocked with cosmetics as well. My mind reeled with suspicion. What kind of game was he playing with me? Trying to be nice until I let my guard down?

I went and picked out a dress I thought would drive Alkard wild. If he wanted to play games with me, I'd need to get ready.

I would play games all night long. And I played to win.