“Good. Virgin blood. Of course that won’t last long—not after you’ve got your bite bracelets,” he remarked, nodding at Mar’ra, who extended her wrists, all covered in bites and bruises. “But once you get a few clients with a taste for that sweet, warmhsh’fruxblood and a feel for that juicyhsh’fruxass—”
It was my turn to interrupt.
“I’mnotselling my body,” I said quickly.
R’xs frowned at me, his glowing green eyes narrowing in his pale face.
“Whatdid you say?”
“I said, I’mnotselling my ass,” I said bluntly. “I’ll sell my blood all day long but I draw the line at…at doing anything else.”
For a moment I thought R’xs was actually going to strike me. His eyes positively blazed in his skull-like face and his fangs grew even longer—he looked like a demon.
I took a step back, ready to run if I had to, but then he seemed to subside for a moment.
“Okay, sure,” he said, shrugging his narrow shoulders. “That’s how you wanna do it, we can play it that way. Lots of customers like a girl who plays hard to get.”
I didn’t know what to say about that but before I could answer, R’xs put his hand in the pocket of his long, dirty robe and pulled out something that looked a little like a piercing gun—the kind they use in the mall or tattoo places when they pierce your ears or your nose or whatever you want pierced.
“What’s tha—?” I started to ask.
But before I could even get the words out, R’xs had pushed the pointed metal muzzle of the thing in his hand to the side of my neck and pulled the trigger.
I felt a piercing pain, like someone had stabbed me suddenly with a large, blunt needle.
“Ouch!” I jerked away from him, putting my hand to the side of my neck instinctively. The place where he had pierced me throbbed and my fingers came away with smears of blood on them. “What did you do to me?” I demanded.
“Just tagged you as one of mine.” R’xs shrugged, as though what he had done was no big deal. “Makes it easier to keep track of my girls.”
“Your…girls?” I felt stunned. Was I included in that number? Was I one of R’xs’ “girls?” Apparently so, though I could hardly believe it.
“You got a tracker chip in you now, honey,” Mar’ra piped up. “I got one too—see?” She pointed to the side of her neck where there was a small but distinct scar. “Marks you as being one of R’xs’ girls—that way none of the other Blood pimps will bother you.”
“Blood pimps?” I asked blankly. I still wasn’t getting it—this was all moving too fast for me.
“Sure—now we’re Blood Whores together.” Mar’ra hooked her arm through mine and gave me a cheery smile.
A whore? I was a whore now? A whore with a pimp? The thought made my flesh crawl, but I didn’t get time to process it.
“Morning rush is starting—show the new girl the ropes,” R’xs instructed Mar’ra. He pointed at me. “For today only you get to keep what you make—that’s so you can rent yourself a hole. But after that, I’m gonna want my cut off the top, no excuses and no exceptions. I don’t get my cut, I’m gonna cutyou.Got it?”
“I…but…but what am I payingyoufor?” I demanded.
R’xs grinned at me, showing his fangs again.
“Protection, girly,” he told me. “Now go on—get working. Shake that ass and show your wrists and neck. You better have a good first day if you want to be able to afford the first solar month’s rent on a hole.”
He grinned at me—a soulless expression that didn’t reach his eyes—and then Mar’ra was marching me off to show me the best way to entice a Naggian man to buy my “virgin blood.”
Those first few days were full of horror for me—being bitten over and over andoveragain, having multiple pairs of ice-cold fangs sinking into my skin like sharpened icicles and trying not to watch as my “clients” slurped up my blood.
The Naggians naturally have much lower body temperatures than humans do—they’re actually able to control how hot or cold they get. And since they live in such a frigid environment, it makes sense for them to keep themselves pretty cold as well. So every time a Naggian male bit me, it feels like icy needles piercing my flesh.
I got used to it though—Ihadto. It was either that or freeze and starve to death and despite my horrible quality of life, I still had the will to survive. I kept telling myself that someday I would somehow get back to Earth, though I had no idea how or when that might be.
But some days, I felt like I was running out of determination and this happened to be one of those days…
“How much?” the prospective client asked again. He was tall and thin like all Naggian men but he was considerably better dressed than most of the men who bought blood from me, one bite at a time. His robe was long—a rich maroon with black curlicues embroidered all over it. It looked kind of like an old-fashioned smoking jacket to me, but it was the kind of thing all well-heeled Naggian men wore.