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“Are you done with our hanky now?” asked the yellow-eyed head, grinning at her.

“Y-your what?” Jillian didn’t like the way her voice trembled.

“Our hanky, girly. What we gave you to clean up with.” One massive hand gestured to the dirty, greasy, no-longer white handkerchief clutched in one of Jillian’s hands.

“You gave it to me?” she gasped. There was a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as the huge Trollox nodded with both heads. Hadn’t Kalis told her something about how if someone gave her a gift, she was legally obligated to give one in return by market rules?

“We did indeed. And now that you owe us, it’s time to collect,” the head with the yellow eyes informed her. Its yellow irises glowed fiercely in the blue radiation, making the huge creature look even stranger and more frightening than it had out in the normal light of the main market.

“What…what do you want?” Jillian was dressed now—well, mostly dressed. She hadn’t put her t-shirt on yet, but now she didn’t want to risk covering her face, even for a second. She clutched it to her chest instead, trying to edge away from the massive Trollox.

“Going, are you, sweet girlie?” the yellow-eyed head inquired in its high, helium-sucking voice. “Before you even repay your debt?”

“Please…” Jillian backed away from the Trollox, trying to aim for the long black curtain in the archway of the entrance to the Dark Market. If she could just get through it, she would be safe! No one was allowed to hurt anyone in the main part of the Buy-All-Sell-All Market. But here in the Dark Market, all bets were off. Anyone could do anything to her and there were no legal consequences. She had to get out of here!

“Hey now, girlie, you don’t look too steady on your feet,” the yellow-eyed head observed. “Why don’t you let old Ripper help you?”

“Not too steady! Not too steady!” the red-eyed head repeated and then roared with laughter. “Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck!”

“Shut up, you!” The yellow-eyed head shot its brother a glare of annoyance before focusing on Jillian again. “As I said, you don’t look too good, sweet girlie. Why don’t you come to my shop and we can have a lovely cup of tea and get to know each other better? Then we can discuss repayment of your debt in a civilized manner.”

“Civilized—civilized! Hyuck-hyuck!” the red-eyed head chortled.

Jillian shook her head frantically, still edging away.

“I…I’ll have to pay you later. Right now, I have to get home. Sorry!”

She had been trying to get closer to the entrance and exit to the Dark Market before she made a run for it, but the massive Trollox was looming over her, its eyes glowing in the strange bluish light like a monster from a nightmare. Its breath smelled like dead things and the drool from the red-eyed head was falling in long, viscous droplets to the ground right by her bare feet. Suddenly, she couldn’t take it anymore—she broke and ran.

Or tried to, anyway. Whatever drug she’d been given was still in her system, making her clumsy and weak. As she turned, her feet got tangled in each other and she started to fall.

A massive hand, as big as a shovel, scooped her up before she could hit the dirt and Jillian found herself tucked under the Trollox’s arm like a stray cat.

“Come on now, girlie—let’s go get that tea and talk about your debt,” the yellow-eyed head said.

“No! No, let me go! Let me go!” Jillian beat weakly at the giant’s leg, which was clad in some tough material that scratched her exposed skin like sandpaper.

But all her shouting and struggling did no good. She was still dazed and weak from the drug and she couldn’t do any damage to the immense Trollox or get herself free.

“Help! Help—he’s kidnapping me!” she screamed, but nobody paid any attention to her at all.

Nobody cares! Oh my God, I’m in so much trouble here—nobody gives a damn if he takes me!

She felt like a kitten being dragged away by a rabid Pit-bull. Because Ripper was holding her facing backwards, she could see the golden light from the other market—the Buy-All-Sell-All—getting fainter and fainter as he carried her deeper into the Dark Market. It was her last glimpse of freedom and it was getting dimmer and dimmer and farther and farther away.

And there was nothing Jillian could do to stop it.

14

“Kindred’s fuckin’ heavy!” one of the males carrying Kalis grunted.

“Weighs more than five males his size—what is he, made of stone?” another gasped, as they lugged him along.

“Never mind, lads—we’re almost there,” Torris’s deep voice boomed. “Just through the entrance to the Dark Market and dump him where we left the female—right in the corner where the wall juts out.”

“Don’t like the fuckin’ Dark Market,” the first voice said. “Not fuckin’ safe—not even for a good-sized male. You know, I heard they have stalls selling humanoid flesh in there? You can buy a couple of hands or a bucket of ears or a loop of fuckin’ guts—it’s enough to make your skin crawl!”


Tags: Evangeline Anderson Fantasy