Rina

His beautiful head lobbed onto the floor with a thud, skittering away to a corner of the room. “Well, that’s the last of them—at least for tonight,” Rina sighed. Sheathing her Kimo sword, she delicately tiptoed around the pools of black blood, careful to collect the heart shaped locket from each body as she passed.

Moving quickly toward the broken door of the greeting room, she wiped the lockets free of Kiloc blood, being careful not to make skin contact with the sticky substance. Getting Kiloc blood on your clothes or boots can mean disaster, both for the wearer and the wardrobe. It’s a bitch to get out, and if absorbed by the skin, can render the victim semi-conscious in a kind of hypnotic state for hours. Rumor has it that’s how they enthrall their women.

What a waste of such exquisite good looks, she thought, eyeing the other handsome liberated head on the floor as she passed through the doorway. He looked so nice, in an evil sort of way. But then, Kilocs weren’t evil, exactly. They just believed they have the inalienable right to rule the universe with an oppressive overlord-ish approach. In fact there’s a lot to be admired about the mind-blowingly handsome male dominant race; after all, they are hard working. They’re constantly subjugating one world or another, and they’re smart…though cunning might be a better word. Not so much today though, she smiled smugly to herself, counting the four lockets that now hung on her belt.

A short thirty years ago Kilocs were known only for their trading skills, their “you-want-it-you-got-it” ability. For the most part they lived in relative peace throughout the galaxy. Then without warning, they changed. As if someone flipped a switch, suddenly the seemingly peaceful merchants turned into well organized lethal warriors with a singular focus on subjugation and control. No one saw it coming. They had situated themselves in strategic locations and then…BANG!…pulled the trigger. Only a few like Rina were still part of the resistance, doing anything they could to disrupt Kiloc supply chains—and maybe make a little money while doing it. After all, everyone should have a side hustle, and Rina’s was selling Kiloc fire crystals on the black market.

Continuing to move stealthily into the cavernous great hall, keeping close to the cold smooth granite wall, Rina scanned the room, searching for more guards. Kilocs rarely have more than four warriors posted to a hoard site and she’d counted four heads on the floor before she left the greeting room, but a girl can never be too careful, as her sweet old Nana would say.

Staying alert, she let her skin relax, allowing her shimmer to fade. It took a lot of mind focus to make her skin refract light. It was a talent she hadn’t quite mastered yet, at least not for the long term holds. When done right a body shimmer will extend to anything touching the skin, rendering the person completely invisible. Rina could only hold hers for 10 minutes at a time before it failed, completely exhausting her. Tonight she needed everything she had to pull off this little fire crystal heist.

Moving into the dimly lit corridor leading to the vault, Rina finally turned the corner to the antechamber entrance and came to an abrupt halt. The sight that greeted her sent shock waves through her chest and left her gasping for air. Overwhelming panic gripped her as she stared at the already open vault door and the back of the biggest Kiloc she’d ever seen. At least seven feet tall, his warm golden skin glowed in the dim light of the cavern like a lustrous pearl. Thick long indigo-black hair—so dark it seemed to suck in the light around it—was held by a warrior’s knot, flowing down his broad, muscled back between his wings. He was magnificent.

Dressed in traditional garb, his black leather vest was set with Valorian scales, glinting and sparkling silver the way a fish glimmers in water. The vest’s back was open, allowing his black satiny wings their full breadth, filling the room with their expanse. Black silk pants clung to his legs, showing off the strong muscles beneath. Hugging his trim waist, a wide belt of soft leather held his pants in place. This Kiloc was showing off every muscle that he had and the sight of him felt both exciting and terrifying.

Shaking herself out of her stupor, Rina quickly stepped back into the dark hallway hoping to stay hidden while she focused on restarting her shimmer. “C’mon baby, don’t fail me now,” she whispered, mentally preparing for the effort of it. “Please, please, let me hold this shimmer so I can get past this evil bastard and grab a couple of those fire crystals,” she silently begged the universe. She knew the universe didn’t care. No one cared. No one was really left to care.

Just as she felt her shimmer envelop her body the Kiloc turned his head to look in her direction. His face was brutally handsome. Thick, jutting black eyebrows rested above hooded almond-shaped eyes that were the inkiest black, so intense it felt like falling off a cliff to stare into them. His high cheekbones and strong prominent nose were accentuated by broad full lips that looked ripe for kissing.

Rina’s body reacted sharply to his vicious good looks. Staring at his face, her abdomen tightened and her chest constricted, making breathing difficult. She could see his ruthless nature written in his cold calculating eyes, but the real threat was advertised in the slight smirking of his lips, sending a clear message that he was lethal and he enjoyed it. She was in danger.

Heat flooded her body like a fireball bursting from her core to the very tips of her fingers and toes. Are you kidding me right now?!, she thought in a panic. It was all she could do to keep her shimmer. Her body working against her will, she felt her shimmer starting to wain. “This is bad…very, very bad,” she whimpered quietly.

“I can smell you, woman, I can smell your sex,” Vatcha announced softly in a low voice smooth like worn gravel, deep, rolling and in control. His nostrils flared as he took another deep intake of air, as if savoring the scent. Slowly drawing his mouth into a wry grin, his head shifted slightly, as if trying to pinpoint his target. “Don’t get in my way.”

She silently mouthed the words, mocking him, “I smell your sex, don’t get in my way,” as if she were on a playground with other children. She knew he couldn’t see her; that much she could tell, watching his eyes searching the darkness beyond her.

Turning his attention back to the open vault door he moved towards the entrance.

Unable to hold her shimmer much longer, Rina decided it was now or never. Her hand quickly moved to her Kimo blade, unleashing its gleaming steel as she leapt into action.

Rushing into the antechamber, her foot pushed off of the wall moving her into the air to glide inches above the large Kiloc’s right shoulder like a small puff of wind. She bent and turned, shooting herself past him and through the vault door. A thin black line oozed open where the tip of her blade had caressed his shoulder as she passed. She hoped the cut would be enough of a distraction to keep him busy and confused, buying her enough time to get what she came for.

Vatcha grunted, as if stung. Reaching out into the air he stretched out his long arm and grasped at the space where he instinctively knew she would be. His long thick fingers wrapped around what he could only guess was her ankle and calf.

“Where are you going? I told you to stay out of my way,” he said slowly in his deep smooth voice. Gripping her ankle firmly, he yanked with a force that Rina had only experienced in hyper-jump. So quick and forceful was the tug, she lost her breath for a moment…and her shimmer.

Dangling his prey upside down, Vatcha watched bemused as her shimmer dissipated—revealing first her shapely legs, then the curve of her rounded hips and breasts, and finally her heart-shaped face that was puckered into a murderous snarl capable of intimidating the most stout-hearted of Kilocs. Her long white braids whipped at his shins as she thrashed about, trying to get free of his grasp.

Watching this fierce fighting pixie struggle to be released, he noticed her pale creamy skin, white as a Dielon moon, and her eyes, the color of the deep blue Turon sea. He could feel himself stir. “Stop,” he commanded calmly, firmly, shaking her like a rattle as she dangled.

Twice again he shook her, stunning her enough to take her weapon and stop the onslaught of her small, but effective, blade. His pants took the brunt of her cutting machine. Still holding her at full arms length to avoid any further damage, he lifted her body until her face and eyes were even with his partially exposed groin. His pants were now mere shreds of silk—the product of her failed escape.

“Are you finished?” His tone dripped with sarcasm. “Or are you so crazed with mating heat that you must free me and have your way? I told you I have no time for mating.”

Staring dumbly at his groin, confused, Rina decided it was better to stay quiet. Her blade was on the floor, but she still had her sleeping dart. Reaching into her braid, she extracted a thin needle and flung it directly at his thigh.

He let out a grunt then teetered precariously. One, two, three… and he was down. Luckily he fell backwards, putting her on top of him instead of underneath. Unluckily, she landed awkwardly, legs akimbo and spread wide, with his head positioned perfectly in between. Her face planted somewhere just below his belly button. Struggling to move out of this embarrassing position she realized that her bare knee was touching his shoulder wound. She had Kiloc blood all over her skin. One, two, three… and she was out.

——

Vatcha awoke to what he considered very interesting scenery. There was pixie everywhere, sprawled all over him, and she wasn’t moving. Staring at the apex of her pant seam, which molded snuggly to her rounded bottom, he smiled as he pieced together what had happened in his mind. She was covered in his blood. Letting out a soft chuckle, he realized that the little pixie was quite fierce and cunning, a requirement for his new wife. It’s true that Vatcha could break the blood bond between them, but it seemed that a better plan would be to collect her in a few weeks, after he sold his bounty. The blood bond would always let him know where she was and she wouldn’t be able to kill him—the blood bond wouldn’t let her. It’s better that she stay his wife for now, he thought, grinning.

Peeling her off of him as he sat up, he gently laid her on the floor. Turning his attention again to the open vault door, he stepped inside to quickly gather the fire crystals.

Completing his task, Vatcha paused as he was leaving to look at his pixie still passed out on the floor. He removed his heart shaped locket to record a thought in it, then placed it on her heart and left.

——

Feeling the coldness of the stone floor beneath her, Rina tentatively opened her eyes. Sitting up to look around the room, something slipped off her chest, falling into her lap. Picking it up, she realized it was another heart shaped locket.

His heart shaped locket.

The thought that emanated from it was, ”I’ll be coming for you.”