ONE
NATALIE
“How much?”
It was a question I was unfortunately used to hearing and the prospective buyer wasn’t looking to purchase any kind of merchandise I had for sale—he was asking the price of my blood.
Hi, I’m Natalie Hale and I’m a Blood Whore.
Now, don’t get the wrong idea. I don’t sell my body, only my blood. And I only sell it from my wrist—notfrom my neck andespeciallynot from my thigh. It might be a minor distinction to some, but it’s damn important to me.
Because I don’t sell my body, only my blood.
But it doesn’t matter how I try to justify it, it’s still a miserable existence. I’m trapped on the frozen ball of ice thousands of light years from Earth called O’nagga Nine, which is inhabited by a species of vampire-like people who drink blood to stay alive. I guess I should be grateful they do—otherwise I’d be selling my ass instead of the red stuff that runs in my veins.
I got dumped here by the guy who bought me from the Alien Mate Index. The AMI is a service run by these three-foot tall blue worms called Commercians. They abduct human women and sell them to well-heeled aliens who want an exotic bride. It’s kind of like a sci-fi twist on a mail order bride service except the prospective bride has no idea she’s up for sale until it’s too late—which is exactly what happened to me.
One minute I was in my cousin Rylee’s apartment, searching for clues as to where she went—she had disappeared without a trace a week before—and the next minute I was being sucked through her bathroom mirror and found myself stark-naked on a cold metal floor with blue alien worms standing around me.
There was another person standing over me—if person was the right word—he was also clearly alien. He had glowing yellow eyes, enormous ears like a bat, and a beak instead of a mouth. He also had scaly yellow skin which I could plainly see since both his hands and feet were visible, poking out from the tent-like red robe he wore. The feet were the worst—they had long, sharp, curving toenails that clicked on the metal floor when he shifted from side to side. Ugh!
“Hmm—I like the skin tones. Creamy brown, the same color aslilla-flower taffy. And her facial configuration is most pleasing—her eyes are lovely, though they do not glow. Her curves are also most luscious,” he remarked, sounding like he was ticking off a shopping list of qualities he had been looking for in a woman.
“Ah yes—she is a fine specimen of a Pure One female, my Lord,” piped up one of the worms in a high, Disney-character voice.
“But you’recertainshe’s aLa-ti-zal?”the alien guy demanded, looking at the worms, who all had about a hundred arms apiece. Maybe they were more like alien centipedes—I don’t know, I was too traumatized to really work it out.
“Oh yes—our instruments indicate this human female is definitely aLa-ti-zal—one of those rare females who has been gifted by the Ancient Ones,” the one who had spoken before assured him. “She will certainly serve you well, My Lord.”
“Good—because I have no interest in any Pure One female whoisn’taLa-ti-zal,”the alien declared. “Only aLa-ti-zalwill be a fitting gift for the Dark Emperor of Tangella Alpha-Prime—it isspecificallywhat he wants. No other female will do.”
“Excuse me,” I said, finally finding my voice. “I don’t know what you guys are talking about but I’m not a Lati—whatever it is. “I’m just a graduate student at USF getting my PhD in Sociology.”
How did I speak so calmly? Well, I thought I was dreaming, of course. Because there wasno waythe three-foot-tall blue worms and the alien guy with glowing yellow eyes and curving, two-inch-long toenails were real, right?
Wrong, but I didn’t know that back then.
“Pay her no attention, my Lord,” the head blue worm—whose skin was slightly darker blue than the others—said quickly. “MostLa-ti-zalsdo not exhibit any of their powers untilafterthey leave Earth’s atmosphere—this is why they do not know they are special until we take them.”
“Well…if you’recertain,” the alien guy said, frowning. “I’m paying a very high price here—I expect to get excellence for what you’re charging.”
“Really,” I said, sitting up and trying to cover myself with my arms. “I’m nothing special! I mean, I don’t even know how Igothere. I was just searching my cousin Rylee’s apartment to see if I could figure out where she went and there was this loud trumpet music coming from the bathroom mirror and then I was sucked in and… here I am.” I shrugged, indicating my confusion.
“Ah yes—Ry-lee,” twittered the head worm. “Yes, I do believe we had aLa-ti-zalfemale of that name not long ago.”
“You saw my cousin?” I demanded, staring at him. “I mean, did you suck her through the bathroom mirror too?”
“As a matter of fact, we did—the large, shiny surfaces you humans have installed all over your domicilesdomake for remarkably easy egress points,” the worm said, nodding his wormy head. He had bulging eyes on long stalks that bobbed up and down when he nodded.
“But…but what happened to her? She’s my cousin!” I exclaimed. “The whole family’s been worriedsick. The police have no leads at all.”
“She was purchased by a pair of Denarins who wished her to sever their bond, I believe,” the worm told me.
“So yousoldher?” I demanded.
The worm nodded again.
“Indeed—that is our business model. We extract human Pure Ones from Earth and sell them to males from around the galaxy who wish to purchase rare and exotic females,” he twittered. He looked up at the alien guy, who was watching me through narrowed yellow eyes. “As you can see, My Lord Gumpas, this female is related to another female who wasalsoaLa-ti-zal.Very often the powers can pass from one female to another in the same manner as one might catch a virus. So now it isdoublycertain this female is indeed aLa-ti-zal.”