3. Blurred Lines
THREE
BLURRED LINES
Syasku
Hunger gnaws my stomach, while thirst shrivels my tongue.
Sensing that I am alone, I realize I must have fallen asleep. Stirring, I test my strength, flexing whatever muscles I can. I am never unconscious when they poison me, not entirely, not anymore, not for long. Each time they force me under, I am more aware than before, pretending otherwise. It is only a matter of time before their poisons do not work at all.
I can be patient. Each time they wake me, I learn more.
These humans want knowledge. They want the secrets of my land and the relics hidden throughout it. They want technology, the locations of caches, and even though they offer me things in return—some comfort in my capture—the one who promises these things also ridicules and threatens me.
Her taunts are pointless.
I am not afraid of her. This Urssssula.
Because in my mind she’s there, waiting for me. The female I had in my arms, the one Azsote stole when these humans snatched me from the ground and locked me in one of their ships. Her blonde hair, her warm body against mine… I had almost gotten her within the wetlands surrounding my territory. If I had, I would be there with her now, far from these humans and this foul-smelling place.
They stole from me what I have been waiting for my entire life. There is nothing they can do now that I have lost the one I caught.
A swoosh to my left and tapping across the floor pulls me from my thoughts.
I know who makes tapping steps like that.
The quiet female who is often at Urssssula’s side.
Her scent captures my attention each time she is near. It is… familiar. She smells like the one I lost, if vaguely. She is a constant reminder of my failure. This is the first time she has come to visit me alone.
She stops to my right, and I debate whether this is the time to make my move. She would be easy to dominate, to make her do what I want. With her, I might escape. These humans would not attack me if I used one of their women as a shield. No species would risk such a valuable resource.
My fingers strain as I test my strength. They barely move. Today is not the day.
Letting my frustration recede, I settle in for what she has in store.
I hear shuffling as she prepares her tools. Slitting my eyes open, I see her bushy brown hair tied tightly at the back of her head, so thick, it is like a cloud of swirling curls against her soft brown skin.
Between her and Urssssula, I much prefer her. She avoids my gaze. She fears me yet refuses to flee.
But I am not so fickle in my desires. A caught female is worthier of being a mate than one who approaches danger without caution. And this female, the one Ursula calls Vivian, does not flee from a dangerous situation when she should. She does not have good survival instincts.
Still, she is always around when I am poked, probed, and questioned. She is always nearby to do whatever Urssssula demands of her. I have not yet figured out why. She obeys all of the older female’s commands even if they make her hesitate. It is her hesitation and the familiarity of her scent that tickles my curiosity.
After the initial shock of my new surroundings… and the intrigue of it waned, the beeping and lights quickly becoming annoying, all I could initially think about was the fact that there were unclaimed, unmated females around me and no males vying for their attention.
It… makes no sense.
Ursula’s assistant is slighter and shorter than her. As a potential mate, she does not appear strong enough to handle one such as I, or any naga for that matter.
Between her and Urssssula, Urssssula would make the better mate physically.
My stomach shrivels at the thought, and I had once believed any female would be a gift. My naivety infuriates me.
I hear a series of clicks, and the bed lowers.
Closer to the floor, I peer once again at the female, Vivian.
She is wearing her usual white mask and form-fitting white clothes. Watching as she prepares something on the large tower beside me, which I am often attached to, she places a vial inside a slot within it.
She is taking more of my blood. It is always my blood—A wave of agonizing pain streaks through me before I finish the thought.
I strain, trying to see where the pain is coming from. There is red on my arms where there is usually gray. Glistening, shiny, wet red. Blood, dried and fresh. The pain intensifies. Every limb strains as the agony escalates.
“Oh!” She gasps.
Straining harder, a furious hiss tears from my throat, and the table groans beneath me.
“Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit! I forgot the painkillers.”
A loud beeping goes off, and the scent of her stress bleeding into the air floods my nose.
My thoughts stutter to a stop. With it, a cold numbness spreads through me, taking away the pain as fast as it came. Realizing the female is poisoning me more than ever before with her numbing liquids, my head falls back as I force out words with my last thread of consciousness.
“Sssstop.” Everything fades to an endless gray haze.
I manage to rouse, never falling fully into unconsciousness. My eyes open to the same warm brown ones I have woken to before.
She flinches when she sees me. I register fear in the way she looks at me, the anxiety—her oddly familiar scent wafts with it—but there is something else gleaming in her eyes… something I do not understand.
Testing my limbs, then my mouth, I find I am paralyzed once more from the neck down.
“You can speak the common tongue.” Vivian’s voice is a breathy whisper, drawing my attention away from my flayed body.
I bare my fangs in answer.
Worry clouds her gaze as she steps back to look around the room. “You shouldn’t talk to me.” She shakes her head like it is a warning. But it does not seem to deter her from speaking to me further. “Ursula won’t stop until she gets what she wants from you. It’s going to get worse if you continue to deny her. Please tell her what she wants to know.”
When I do not respond, she glances around again like she is afraid of something. Something other than me.
“Others will be here soon to transport you to her lab for another round of… of…” Her brow creases as she glances down at my body.
My lips twitch as her gaze drifts over my flayed hide.
“I’ve numbed you for now, but I won’t be able to later.” She leans back. “I’m… sorry.” Sweat beads across her brow, above her lip. She wipes her face and her brows furrow. “I really am sorry.”
Sorry?
Ursssula’s female is sorry? I would sooner throw her across the room to free myself from this wretched place, and she is sorry?
My initial thoughts were correct—she would never survive Earth.
She looks nervously around the room once again before turning from me to face the machine. I glance around the room like she did, trying to find the source of her fear.
“Ssssyasku.” I do not know why I say it, why I give her my name. All I know is that I did not want her to stop speaking.
And that makes me curious. That, and her apology.
She slowly turns back to me. “What?”
“My name issss… Syasku.”
She stares, confusion flooding her eyes, and it is the first time I can look at her head-on. There is pain as well, but it vanishes as her fear comes crashing back. She steps away, shaking her head.
I hiss with frustration, once more searching the stark room for the source of her nervousness. What is more fearsome than me?
Refusing to look at me again, she focuses on the machine, punching in buttons harder than usual.
Her voice is free of emotion and her lips barely move when she hits me with a truth I had not yet realized. “I’m not sure what you have been told, Syasku, but you should know that you’re on a spaceship. And even if you did manage to escape from your restraints, there is nowhere for you to go. There are miles of metal all around you and hundreds of soldiers between you and the nearest port—which has been in lockdown since your arrival. There is no escape right now—for anyone.”
Another beep sounds and what little blood I have drains from me, stealing the last of my strength. No words leave my mouth when I try to speak.
I am not concerned by soldiers and metal walls.
The world around me darkens as I listen to the taps of her shoes fade.