Chapter 9
Yes!
All of her body and soul cried out the agreement, the acknowledgment that he was so very right whether she wanted him to be or not. His kiss was everything that he was: a little rough, a lot of dominance, and exotic with an alien power over her that she didn’t understand. When he kissed her like this, plundering her mouth with deep, slow strokes of his tongue around hers, she was overrun with sensation and a hum of vitality that was like getting an electrical shock. Asia didn’t know what it was that made him so very different than other men—at least not in specific—but whatever it was hummed into her on a fast, fierce frequency straight to the very center of her being. Once it reached the deepest core of her body, it flash-flooded her in an all too liquid rush of arousal that made her blatantly wet with need. Suddenly self-conscious, she squirmed in his caging grasp, but he was unrelenting as he lifted away from her lips.
“No more fighting, Asia,” he said softly, his breath hot against her wet lips, “me or yourself. Relent to what you feel. Relax and release, and what you will experience will blow us both away.”
“I don’t want to be blown away,” she rasped out, clenching her teeth when she heard the fear in her own voice. She was rapidly losing control of everything around her, and no matter how good this part of it felt, it was still writhing too violently out of her grasp. “I won’t be ruled by the equivalent of adolescent hormones and impulsiveness!”
He laughed, the sound rough and bordering on manic. He pressed his weight fully against her, rippling in a long, lithe line of hard muscle and a heat that penetrated her in waves. With the aroma of him so abundant around her, she couldn’t seem to help the need to breathe him into herself deeply, just as he had done. Then she became very aware of the aroused state of his body, of just how hard and hot he was beneath the denim of the jeans he was wearing. Human clothing, she thought inanely, on an alien male.
The thought made her gasp and she looked up into his eyes in anxiety.
“Are you different f-from human males?” she blurted out before she could curb the impulse. The smile that curved sinfully over his lips made her entire body flush hot with an almost naughty sense of anticipation and a craving for something different and wild.
“Now, see,” he murmured low and smooth near the rise of her cheek as he bent to rub his lips against her in teasing grazes, “a question like that proves to me that you aren’t at all as disinterested as you wish you were. What would it matter to you otherwise? You want to know this because you want to make love with me.”
Asia opened her mouth to retort with one of about a dozen different lies, but just then his mouth slid against her ear where it brushed and toyed in breathy kisses until her skin erupted in goose bumps and her nipples turned into aching hard points. Of course, the suggestion that she wanted him in her bed had a lot to do with it as well when she realized just how right he was. He made her feel in ways no one else ever had. He made her feel in ways she had once craved very much. How could she deny herself a pleasure she had thought didn’t exist for her?
But what if it still didn’t? What if all of this glorious play that so stimulated her ended in the usual disappointments? How could she bear that? How could he or the thousands of people he claimed were awaiting her energy survive such a crushing disillusionment?
“I am almost insulted,” he whispered softly to her. “Do you forget so soon the way you called the Gate to us? Do you forget what I made you feel then?”
Asia gasped and realized she had. She had been so humiliated by her behavior and the way he had manipulated her that she had shut off the implications of what she had been made to feel.
“But you didn’t touch me,” she recalled in a soft voice. “You never laid a hand on me. How did you…?”
“A woman of such energy as yours? Her power and pleasure are centered within her mind, in as much as it lives in her body.” He drew back and she saw his momentary frown flitting through his eyes. “I am sorry it was such an impersonal event. It should have happened differently. I would much rather have…” His eyes slid almost closed, neglecting to hide all the things he was thinking he should have done to her to draw out those kinds of responses from her. “I have the power to touch and weave the energy of your mind’s pleasure centers with just the command of my thoughts and aura.” He smiled a bit devilishly. “I can always make you come, Asia, with just a thought.”
Well, how could she blame herself for going completely breathless after a claim like that? Especially after having seen and felt the proof of it?
“But…I’ve had orgasms before. I know my own body, you know. I’m not a child or a prude,” she said in a rush. “Still, I’ve never…not like that. It was so powerful. If you didn’t have those abilities, I promise you you couldn’t…It wouldn’t happen like that.” She exhaled at the end of the statement as if she had just made a terrible confession. “I’m not the passionate woman you or your people seem to need. You’ve made a mistake.”
“Asia?”
She let her eyes drift up to his.
“If that’s a truth, it’s about to change. And this time you will know how good change can be.”
The hot promise was followed by an even hotter kiss. He broiled against her with increasing heat from his body, the shift of his strong legs and wicked hips burrowing him tight against her. His hand slid over her hip and drew her snugly forward into him as he shaped one cheek of her backside through the slick silver of her dress. She felt herself rush in wet response between her legs, dampness saturating her underwear and making her shiver with the realization of how blatant a sign of arousal it was. Julian chuckled softly, continuing to rub himself restlessly against her.
“No more blatant than this, eh?” he queried as he fed the feel of his cock in all of its hardened glory against the feminine mound concealing his mate. “Should I take you like this, zini? Up against the nearest wall, only steps away from the spilt blood of your defeated enemy?”
“Julian!” she cried, trying to sound aghast and horrified but sounding more like she was inviting him to do just that.
“Don’t be so shocked. You’re a warrior from head to toe and your victories will always be a source of empowerment for you.”
“But she was your friend….”
“If she were my friend and a true Companion, she would never have betrayed me by trying to cause harm to my kindra. There isn’t a man in this colony who would dare to do such a thing to me. I don’t think you fully appreciate what she was trying to do to you by staging this.”
“I don’t appreciate any of this,” she said without force or anger, just a lot of confusion. “I don’t understand why she would do this. I don’t understand why you want me. I don’t understand what it is you expect me to do when I know I just can’t do it!”
“Now that doesn’t sound like the woman who thought she could take on a serial killer all by herself,” he noted with a wicked smile.
“Well, I—” Well, hell. He was right about that. He had her so far off her mark that she was completely on the defensive. What she needed, what she wanted, was to get back in the game.
She escaped his grasp and bolted into the next room. She couldn’t truly run away from him, she knew, but she could at least give herself distance from him and the mocking aroma of Ariel’s neon pink blood pool. Unlike human blood that was tinged with the rusty smell of iron, this was sweeter, like being in a room full of sugar, and she couldn’t bear the idea of what the pathetic creature had done all in the name of rescuing a life turned upside down.
What was she going to do to rescue a life turned upside down? Shed blood like Ariel? Go insane? Rip out her hair? Where would any of that get her?
“Oh God,” she rasped, pacing the room quickly as he came through the beaded curtains to confront her wild emotions.
But before he could speak there was a resounding clanging sound at the front door. She gasped, wondering what fresh hell was being thrown at her now.
; “Will you please relax.” Julian sighed. “It’s just someone at the door.”
“Well, excuse the fuck out of me for being a little on edge! Didn’t you just tell me there are huge creatures out there that—”
Asia broke off when he opened the door to reveal the huge creature standing outside. A good seven feet tall and entirely transparent, the thing flickered like a weak movie on a moving movie screen. Asia was so stunned by the thing she almost missed Julian’s reaction. He quickly knelt and dropped his head, his complexion going dramatically pale. All of a sudden, like a wave of water dashed in her face, she could sense the fear and worry coming off him. He reached out and snagged her wrist, yanking on it until she fell to her knees as well. She was too numb to really do anything else.
“Ampliphi Kloe.” He greeted the faded figure with soft respect in his tone. “How may your Gatherer serve you?”
Kloe ignored his protocol and manners and went straight for Asia. She flicked a faded finger against Asia’s cheek rudely, the sensation more like a sparkle than a touch.
“Here less than one of your Earth days and already there is violence and murder in your wake.”
“Murder!” Julian was on his feet instantly and trying to wedge himself between Kloe and Asia. “Ariel is not dead!”
“She is not,” the Ampliphi agreed, “but not for lack of trying.” There was accusation in her eyes as she stared at Asia. “You will take this one to the holding colony.”
“No! She didn’t do this thing!”
“There was a victim stabbed in the back and she was the only one here, is that not so?”
“Yes, but—”
“Then the matter is clear. She is no better than nightfly, so she will live as one.”
“Wait a minute.” Asia spoke up, getting quickly to her feet when she heard the derision in the creature’s voice. “Are you sending me to jail? That sicko bitch stabs herself and I’m getting sentenced without a trial or anything?”
“Asia,” Julian hissed, trying to hush her.
“No. Fuck that. I never asked to be here. I’ve done nothing wrong. I’ll be damned if this—whatever this thing is—is going to pass judgment on me like she’s deciding on paper or plastic at the checkout!”
“Insolent,” Kloe stated with obvious distaste. “Ignorant. He hushes you because I am Ampliphi. I am the first and the last power of all the colonies. My will is done and not questioned!” Ampliphi Kloe turned to Julian. “Very well. Take her to the colony, as instructed, and you may take the matter up with the Ampliphi come dawn.”
“Yes, Ampliphi,” Julian said quickly, bowing his head to her as she moved out of the doorway like a ghost and glided down the pathway. Julian wasted no time in slamming the door and spinning the wheel to lock the posts into the steel.
“‘Yes, Ampliphi’?” Asia demanded. “Is this your idea of protection, because it kinda really sucks!”
“You will be quiet!” he roared suddenly, whirling to get in her face. “Have you no appreciation for the amount of trouble you are in?”
“What I appreciate,” she said through her tightly clenched teeth, “is that I went from being summarily sentenced to a trial by jury. That’s what I appreciate!”
That seemed to draw up his temper, to the point where he looked utterly perplexed. “Yes,” he said carefully. “That much is true.” But then he frowned darkly again. “But it is not the improvement you think. The Ampliphi are notorious for backing one another almost without exception.”
“Oh. Well, I suppose the key word there then is ‘almost.’ That implies that sometimes they do make exceptions. We’ll just have to see to it this is one of those times.”
“Good God, you are the most bullheaded creature I have ever met!” he exclaimed. “Regardless of what the dawn brings, you must now spend the night in holding. You do not comprehend what this place is like and what can happen to you there!”
“Then enlighten me,” she demanded, her hands on her hips.
“It’s a colony full of criminals! Use your imagination! These are women with nothing to lose except…” He looked her up and down sharply. “God! You’re going to get yourself killed!”
“Nice. Way to have faith.” She squared off with him. “I am a master in jujitsu and I hunt criminals for a living, Julian. I can handle myself.”
He laughed at that, pacing a short distance and running a hand through his hair. It wasn’t the body language of someone who was comforted.
“Zini, you don’t understand. This isn’t like human prison. These women, these nightfly, have committed such horrible crimes that we’ve had to lock them away! We, who are dying for lack of females, have locked them away.”
“I think you need to explain the term ‘nightfly’ to me,” she said carefully, not at all liking the panic she was reading off him.
“We cannot afford to dismiss even a woman of pure evil from among us. You understand? Even the most evil womb is precious to us. Women do not have the death penalty. Instead, they become…breeding stock. Nightfly. You would call them whores or prostitutes. They barter their fertility for the right to live and the means to live well, albeit in confinement. Gilded cages, of a sort. We cannot use their poisoned energy, so they are isolated from all of the colonies, but if raised right, their get can be useful members of this society. It is a distasteful way to mate and get heirs, and only those of us who are driven to utter desperation will submit to paying for the use of a nightfly.”
“What makes the difference, Julian?” she asked softly, knowing she was about to infuriate him with the query. “What makes the difference between a nightfly and what you have made of my sister?”
“The difference is freedom, respect, and honor! Nightfly do not have a choice in who buys their fertility. They are not free to come and go from the nightfly colony. There is shame attached to having nightfly parentage, although it is understood there is often no other choice. If Ariel has done what you are accusing her of, she will become nightfly. She will be sentenced to bear children for the men who choose her. Those men, in return, will pay for the gilding in her cage. One of my two friends whom you have met is the son of a nightfly. He struggles with that side of his genetics constantly. His mother was the most notorious woman in the history of all the kings and colonies. A foul murderess and insurrectionist. Her name was Diolite. Only one man ever dared to pay the price for Diolite’s uterus and her whelps.” Julian shook his head. “It must have been like thrusting into a poisoned pool. I cannot imagine it.”
It took a moment for Julian to realize how still she had gone so suddenly. He frowned as he sought for the reason for the repellant body language from her, his eyes and mind both searching her.
“This disturbs you?” he asked.
“Disturbs me? What you speak of is a heinous act called rape and forced reproduction! ‘Disturb’ doesn’t even begin to touch on what I’m feeling!” Asia swallowed back against a rushing tide of bile lurching from her stomach.
“Every woman in our society knows what the consequences of foul behavior are, just as the men know capital punishment awaits them for any number of crimes. They are the ones who choose to commit those acts regardless. It cannot be called rape or forced when the person who is committing the treachery is aware of the penalty they are flirting with. It is a conscious and aware selection of fate. They understand they are tempting it when they try to get away with a crime, so how do you find it forced on them? And before you judge this society, Asia, remind yourself just how close we are to the eradication of our species. You have no comprehension how distasteful it is to the men of this world to treat a woman with anything less than the most gracious and honorable respect! To us the female body is a temple where we are blessed with the opportunity to worship, and the woman herself a goddess bestowing wondrous favors of passion, brilliance, and energy. Your sex is our salvation and our satiation, the ultimate prize we can earn if we are dutifully respectful and honorable enough to earn her attention and favor.
&n
bsp; “For the Ampliphi and rulers of the colonies to be forced to realize a woman has committed crimes and heinous acts is the most dreadful betrayal you can possibly imagine. Rare and precious as they are to us, as reverently as we treat them, they would throw it all back in our faces? They are somehow unsatisfied to the point that they commit treachery for some reason? What is it we don’t give them that they could possibly want, what is it that measures as enough reason to betray that status among their people?”
“You tell me,” she countered hoarsely. “Tell me what your women crave that makes them risk being sent to a penal colony that will make them into breeding machines.”
Julian snorted at the terminology.
“Machines? What do you think of us? That we force a child on a woman every instant of her fertile years? A man purchases a nightfly for five years, in which time he is due a single child…unless the nightfly desires to have another with him during that period. You see? Even our punishments give respect to the woman. In those five years he must feed her, clothe her, and keep her in complete comfort. Her health needs become his responsibility. A single complaint of substance from the woman nullifies his chances to get a child on her. And if he fails to impregnate her in his allotted time, for any reason, he must release her regardless. Those five years will be the only ones he is ever allowed, no matter how powerful or wealthy he is. Five years, one opportunity. Once it passes, it can never again be renewed, and then his only hope of a child lays on the voluntary choice of a woman being courted by, at the very least, two hundred other men.
“The nightfly gets her five years with a single man living in whatever luxury he can afford for her before she is chosen for another man a year later. As far as punishments go, it is as gentle and spoiling as can be without giving her the freedom to commit more acts of crime or evil.”
“Easy for you to say when you aren’t the one being forced to have sex with a man not of your choice.”
“There’s that word ‘choice’ again,” he said bitterly. “The choice was made to commit the act to thrust her into the situation in the first place.”