Up ahead was the hulking freighter of the slave ship that had brought her here in the first place. One dull gray, scarred side still bore the fresh marks of one of her fellow captives—a girl with dark green skin and long nails. Nails that she’d broken scratching and scrabbling against the side of the ship as the slavers pulled her out and shot her because she’d tried to escape the moment the hatch was open.
“I’ll show you what we do to deserters, girlie,” the slaver had snarled and the next moment the girl, whose name Lan’ara had never learned, had a gaping hole in her guts and was sinking to the side of the ship, her eyes gone blank and dark.
The memory—still so fresh and awful—overwhelmed her for a moment, especially when she saw the green stain on the ground beside the slave ship.
The girl’s blood had been green too.
The big Kindred turned and for a moment it seemed to Lan’ara that he was headed right for the slave ship. A sudden awful thought gripped her—what if he’d decided to take her to the slaver who had sold her and ask for his money back? What if he’d decided she wasn’t worth the huge amount of credit he’d paid?
Cold sweat ran down her spine and her stomach clenched in fear.
“Please, my Lord,” she begged in a low voice, speaking to the big Kindred for the first time since he’d swept her up into his arms. “Please don’t take me back to them! I swear I can make you happy—I promise I can please you! I’ve been trained in every way to satisfy a man—I’ll be sure you get your money’s worth, I swear it!”
“What?” The Kindred looked down at her, a frown of confusion stamped on his stern features. “What are you talking about, girl?”
“The slaver!” Lan’ara nodded frantically at the battered hull of the ship, marred by white scratch marks and the puddle of green blood, now almost dry. “Please don’t take me back to the slaver!” she begged, her heart pounding.
“Why in the Seven Hells would I do that?” he demanded, scowling at her. “When I just spent every last credit I had buying you from that bastard?”
“I thought…” Lan’ara swallowed hard, trying to push down the tears that were stinging her eyes. “I thought maybe you’d regretted your decision. That you…that you were going to ask for your money back.”
“Of course I fucking regret my decision,” he growled, making Lan’ara gasp in fright. “But I’m not taking you back,” he added, apparently seeing her terror. “Goddess above, girl—you don’t have to fear me sending you back to that fate. Didn’t I tell you I’m a Kindred and we don’t mistreat females?”
“I…I didn’t know. I just thought…” Lan’ara’s heart was still pounding so hard it was difficult to think. “Forgive me,” she said at last, bowing her head. “I was foolish. It’s just, seeing the slave ship so close…”
“You thought I was taking you back,” he finished for her. “Well, we’re only close to it because this ship beside it is mine—or the ship I work on, anyway.”
He nodded to a sleek black middle-weight cruiser that dwarfed the slave ship. Its vast black side was as shiny as a mirror and Lan’ara could clearly see her own disheveled appearance reflected there.
“That’s The Dark Heart, captained and owned by Captain Glo’ll. I’m First Mate and Navigator.”
Just then, a hulking shape appeared in the shiny black side of the ship.
With a little gasp, Lan’ara twisted her head around and saw the three-headed monster that had been bidding on her—the one who had asked the slaver to hurt her with the stick and had talked about making her bear his heir—standing right behind them!
He was glaring at her with all three heads.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, stiffening in the Kindred’s arms. “Oh, no!”
But the big Kindred didn’t seem perturbed to have the monster so close.
“And unfortunately, Drung there is the Second Mate,” he told Lan’ara, sounding both annoyed and a bit bored. “He’s a Trollox, in case you didn’t notice the multiple heads,” he added.
“How dare you bring the girl around here, Needrix?” The middle head of the Trollox spoke, its voice like a metal blade scraping over gravel. “How dare you buy her out from under me when you know I’ve been looking for the right female to have my heir for cycles, so I have?”
“I don’t give a flying fuck about your fucking heir,” the Kindred growled, tightening his grip on Lan’ara. “And what else was I supposed to do with her once I’d bought her? I had to bring her back to the ship. Don’t worry—she’ll live in my quarters and stay strictly away from you.”
Lan’ara thought she could certainly promise to obey the big Kindred’s rules. She wanted nothing to do with the disgusting three-headed beast who was towering over her head, licking its chops as it eyed her body greedily.